One of the hidden joys of being a word nerd is one of your colleagues calls to ask about the difference between having an elephant in the room or a 400-pound gorilla.
"Wow, what a delightful mental problem!" was my immediate reaction. I saw there could be unexplored depth to the gorilla/elephant choice. To start the expedition, let's look at the physical presence of the two animals.
The average gorilla weighs between 300 and 485 pounds, which seems to me to be plenty big and scary. Yet the phrase is often inflated to an 800-pound gorilla, and the exaggeration works. In other words, the challenge or obstacle the gorilla represents is bigger than life, so doubling its weight still seems plausible.
Speaking of weight, what about that elephant in the room? Male African elephants are the largest surviving land animal, and can weigh up to seven tons! But with the elephant, its exact weight is not the point. "Elephant" equals "very heavy" or "big." So it represents a big issue or stumbling block that is obvious, yet no one talks about.
In addition to size, another characteristic to consider is what we might call personality or temperament. How does a gorilla go about its day? How does an elephant act?
Well, whenever I have seen elephants in a zoo, they are pretty much just standing there, more or less calm and placid. I mean, I know they can run — I've seen video footage of an elephant charging. Yet it would seem they have to feel threatened or be defending a baby elephant in order to get riled up. Of course, when they do move, watch out. Danger of being trampled.
Returning to the gorilla, by comparison, I think we can agree that a mature silver-back gorilla is all about intimidation. The scowl, the chest beating, the lunging forward like a linebacker — it's all aimed at scaring the pants off the other guy, making intruders turn and run away.
Therefore, we see major differences developing for the "feel" of a room one is sharing with either a gorilla or an elephant:
The elephant goes unmentioned, because the problem it represents is considered by all to be too big and heavy to bring up in the current meeting. They just don't want to get into it. So the ambiance of an elephant-sharing room is business as usual, everyone being pleasant, no worries — as long as no one mentions Jumbo over there and all our careful work gets stepped on.
The gorilla in the room goes unmentioned because it represents a problem that is volatile and unpredictably dangerous — it could kill your career with one blow. There's more of a hair-trigger atmosphere to sharing a conference room with a gorilla-like problem. You probably want to get out of there as quickly as possible by keeping everyone's attention on non-gorilla issues and making efficient use of time.
So there you have it, a deep dive into the nuances of having an invisible yet consequential animal in the room while business is being discussed. Perhaps next time we can explore the shades of meaning that distinguish pitfalls, land mines and bear traps as figures of speech in business jargon.
