800-pound gorilla in the room is a blend of two images: an 800-pound gorilla, apparently from the old joke about a gorilla sleeping anywhere it wants, which means something powerful enough to get its way, and the elephant in the room, the obvious problem everyone avoids mentioning. Rose in Arizona heard the blended version used for something too big and awkward to ignore. Similar mix-ups (intentional or otherwise) happen easily, as when a senator during John Roberts’s confirmation referred to a 600-pound elephant in the room, a notably undersized elephant but a perfectly recognizable idea. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “An “800-Pound Gorilla” Versus the “Elephant in the Room””
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, this is Rose. I’m calling from Blackstaff, Arizona.
Hi, Rose. Welcome to the program.
Hi, guys. I just had a question.
Okay, I’ve heard somebody say the 800-pound gorilla in the room, and I really don’t know what it means, and I’m just curious to see what you guys have to say about it.
Huh, Rose.
So, do you remember the context that you heard it in?
I think, like, a guy was just saying, oh, they didn’t notice the 800-pound gorilla in the room.
Mm—
I’m not sure, like, what that symbolizes or…
Yeah, okay.
That’s a great question.
And it goes back, apparently, to an old joke.
Now, this is a really goofy joke.
Rose, where does an 800-pound gorilla sleep?
On the floor? I don’t know.
Okay, here’s the really silly answer to that question.
Where does an 800-pound gorilla sleep?
Anywhere he wants to.
Oh, yeah.
I mean, it’s so goofy, right?
But, you know, a great big gorilla like that, it’s a metaphor for somebody who’s sort of all-powerful, somebody or something, you know, like Microsoft, you know, the kumkin or something like that might be referred to as an 800-pound gorilla because it’s so powerful. It can do whatever it wants to.
But what’s really funny is there’s another expression that you may have heard of, and that one is, well, nobody’s talking about the elephant in the room.
Have you heard that one?
Yeah, I think I have.
Yeah, I have heard that before.
That’s like when you’re avoiding talking about a topic, right?
You’re sitting there and nobody’s mentioning the big issue that’s on everybody’s minds, but nobody can bring themselves to talk about.
And what’s funny is that in a lot of people’s minds, those two expressions, 800-pound gorilla and the elephant in the room, have gotten kind of mixed up because that was the way you kind of used it at first, right?
Yeah, that’s how I heard it.
Yeah.
So there’s an 800-pound gorilla in the room means that there’s something big and ugly that nobody wants to acknowledge.
Yeah, that’s exactly.
I get it.
Yeah, that’s exactly it.
In fact, a few years ago during the confirmation of John Roberts, the Supreme Court justice, one of the senators in Congress was saying they were talking about something that nobody was talking about. And he said, yeah, that’s the 600-pound elephant in the room.
And, you know, most elephants are at least 6,000 pounds. So a 600-pound elephant in the room is pretty weird.
That’s funny.
Oh, that’s cool.
Nice joke, though, right?
I mean, it’s a fun joke.
Yeah.
Yeah.
But it makes sense because the joke is all about this thing that is kind of dominating and domineering.
And so a lot of times in business, you’ll see a company, which might be a $40 billion a year company, called the gorilla or the big gorilla or the 800-pound gorilla in their industry, meaning that they monopolize or they dominate or they somehow control the marketplace.
Wow.
So lots of metaphorical uses there of it as well.
Okay.
That’s really interesting.
That works for you?
Thanks for calling, Rose.
Yeah, it does work for me.
Okay.
Thank you, guys.
I don’t have to be thinking about it now.
All right.
Have a good day.
Okay.
Take care.
Thanks, Rose.
Take care.
Bye-bye.
Bye.
Well, what expression has caught your eye or ear lately?
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