Elephant in the room

By looking at the book entitled " An Elephant in the Living Room: A Leader's Guide for Helping Children of Alcoholics ", you might wonder whether the book is concerned about an elephant or children with alcoholic parents. The idiom " elephant in the (living) room " started to be widely used in the USA in the mid-1950s. It refers to a challenging problem or a controversial issue which everyone is aware of, but ignores or avoids because it causes embarrassment socially or politically. 

The origin of the idiom is uncertain. One of the stories has nothing to do with the English language. In 1814, Ivan Krylov, a Russian writer, wrote a short story called " The Inquisitive Man ". In the story, a man who has spent three hours in a natural history museum tells his friend that he examines all sorts of animals and insects very closely. However, he fails to notice a giant elephant in the room.

What do you think the " elephant in the room " in Hong Kong society is ?

當你看見一本名為An Elephant in the Living Room: A Leader's Guide for Helping Children of Alcoholics的書籍時，你或會奇怪到底這本書是關於一隻大象還是關於酗酒父母的子女？Elephant in the (living) room這個習語於20世紀50年代中期在美國開始受到廣泛使用。它指的是一個具挑戰性的問題或具爭議性的議題，人人都覺察到這個問題卻忽視或迴避它，因為它在社會或政治方面引致令人尷尬難堪的情況。　　

這個習語的起源並不明確。其中一個故事與英語完全無關。1814年，俄羅斯作家伊萬・克雷洛夫（Ivan Krylov）撰寫了一個短篇故事，名為《充滿好奇心的男子》。在故事中，一個在自然歷史博物館消磨了三個小時的男子告訴朋友，他非常仔細地研究了各種各樣的動物和昆蟲。可是，他未能留意到在博物館的房間裡有一隻巨象。

你認為香港社會裡有哪些人們避而不談的棘手問題（elephant in the room）呢？

  
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