Do white elephants exist? Detailed answer

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Do white elephants exist? Detailed answer

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Do white elephants exist?

You must have heard the expression: "To have a white elephant." By saying this, people mean that someone owns an unusual, expensive thing that he would not give away for anything. Interestingly, no one has ever seen a white elephant! White elephants are sometimes called very light elephants, which in ancient times were considered sacred.

In some parts of the world they were even worshipped. White elephants were considered so valuable that only a king was allowed to own such an elephant! And this was very helpful: surrounded by the greatest care, white elephants enjoyed all the expensive attributes of luxury. They never worked and lived in separate quarters. They had their own servants, specially assigned to take care of white elephants, and food was often served to them in silver troughs by people in white clothes.

So you see where the expression comes from, implying the possession of an expensive, not useless thing?

Author: Likum A.

Random interesting fact from the Great Encyclopedia:

What kind of elaborate murder in a James Bond film is unnatural?

In the movie Goldfinger, James Bond finds his girlfriend Jill Masterson dead after being covered in gold paint. At the time the film was made, it was indeed a misconception that covering the whole person in paint would result in death by stopping breathing through the skin. The actress was painted gold, but the skin under the thong was left intact, since, again, this is the way to avoid asphyxia that was used by the dancers who painted the body. In fact, a person receives the absolute majority of oxygen through the nose and mouth, so the paint on the body cannot in any way cause suffocation. The danger may lie in the toxins contained in it, or in the fact that the paint will clog the pores and thereby cause the body to overheat.

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