The elephant in the room

This article covers the metaphor; for the television film from the series Tatort see Tatort: ​​The Elephant in the Room .

The elephant in the room is an English-speaking metaphor ( elephant in the room ) that has also gained popularity in the German-speaking area since the turn of the millennium. The Anglizismus referred to an obvious problem, which is indeed in the room, but is still not addressed by those present.

The reasons for silence can be varied, for example the fear of personal disadvantage and repression or the fear of hurting someone - possibly those present -, breaking a taboo or disregarding the unwritten rules of political correctness .

literature

• Sabine Fiedler (Ed.): Glass ceiling and elephant in the room - phraseological Anglicisms in German . Berlin: Logos Verlag, 2014, pp. 92–96.