Sort of blend: "the 900 pound elephant in the room"

[Scot LaFaive]

That's why it's so noticeable.

Scot


>From: "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at UMR.EDU>
>Reply-To: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>Subject: Sort of blend: "the 900 pound elephant in the room"
>Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2007 10:42:11 -0600
>
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Poster:       "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at UMR.EDU>
>Subject:      Sort of blend: "the 900 pound elephant in the room"
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>        I heard an interesting sort of blend on TV today. Political
>commentator Sam Donaldson spoke of "the 900 pound elephant in the room." He
>of course meant "the elephant in the room" and got mixed up with "the 900
>pound gorilla" (which is not normally in the room; btw, the gorilla's
>weight can also be 600 or 800 pounds).
>
>     A quick check of Google shows that the average weight of the adult
>female Asian elephant is 6,000 pounds, while the male averages 11,000
>pounds.  900 pounds would be downright anorexic.
>
>Gerald Cohen
>
>------------------------------------------------------------
>The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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