It is based on the fact that an elephant in a small room would be impossible to ignore.
What does pink elephant in the room mean.
It s also an intentionally confusing combination of the expressions white elephant pink.
Its assumed that everyone has noticed it.
As the others say you re combining two sayings to come up with an interesting third one.
By painting the elephant in the same bold pattern as the room s wallpaper banksy emphasized the phrase s meaning by both making the elephant even more obvious and by giving those who chose to ignore it like the woman in the tableau an opportunity to pretend that it had blended into the wallpaper background.
It may be that pointing it out is politically not correct impolite or offensive.
This phrase was first introduced by sam senev who brought an actual pink elephant to a speech.
It s so common that we all have a saying for it we take her maiden name and add ism to it as in rodney ism.
Pink elephant in the room phrase discussion in friends family social skills started by paloftoon mar 8 2016.
A pink elephant in the room is a phrase used to say that there is something very obvious one cant miss it yet no one wants to be the person to point it out or talk about it.
The expression elephant in the room usually the elephant in the room or the elephant in the living room is a metaphorical idiom in english for an important or enormous topic question or controversial issue that is obvious or that everyone knows about but no one mentions or wants to discuss because it makes at least some of them uncomfortable or is personally socially or politically.
It s often used when someone of a different sexual persuasion from the rest of the group is present and the speaker finds the situation awkward.
A costly and troublesome hallucination which nobody wants to mention.
A pink elephant is something wrong something which cannot exist so to say that one is in the room means that there is something wrong in the present company.
Have you heard the phrase there is an elephant in the room.