white elephant | Idiomator

Meaning: Analbinoelephant.; (idiomatic)Apossessionthat isunwantedor is afinancialburden; anunprofitableinvestment.1887, Harriet W. Daly,Digging, Squatting, and Pioneering Life in the Northern Territory of South Australia, page140:South Australia's "white elephant" was really going to prove a valuable possession after all!2013June 18,Simon Romero, “Protests Widen as Brazilians Chide Leaders”, inNew York Times, retrieved21 June 2013:Some of the stadiums being built for the World Cup soccer tournament, scheduled for next year, have also been criticized for delays and cost overruns, and have become subjects of derision as protesters question whether they will becomewhite elephants.

Examples:

EN: She went to get a beautiful white elephant for you with purple eyes and a shiny golden house on his back.
ES: Fue a buscar un hermoso elefante blanco para ti. Con los ojos morados y un brillante palanquín de oro en su espalda.
EN: At the end all I saw was a white elephant It was the silliest, silliest thing!
ES: Al final, solo vi fue un elefante blanco. Fue la cosa más graciosa.
EN: Just big enough to be a white elephant.
ES: - Lo suficiente para ser un elefante blanco.
EN: You couldn't find a white elephant tonight.
ES: En una noche como esta no se puede encontrar ni un elefante blanco.
EN: I suppose you've heard what I'm doing with that white elephant that used to belong to your family up on Waverly Street.
ES: Supongo que ya habrás oído lo que voy a hacer con ese elefante blanco que pertenecía a tu familia en la calle Waverly.
EN: Well, how does it feel to be the owner of a white elephant?
ES: Bueno, ¿cómo se siente siendo la dueña?
EN: Then His Majesty goes upriver to receive sacred white elephant.
ES: Después Su Majestad irá río arriba a recibir al sagrado elefante blanco.
EN: It is unfortunate mem had to wait for new year and cremation... but at least she's ahead of white elephant.
ES: Ha sido desafortunado que mem haya tenido que esperar por el Año Nuevo y la cremación pero al menos irá antes que el elefante blanco.
EN: Why he should take such a shellacking to get this particular white elephant, it's beyond me.
ES: ¿Por qué tendría ese impulso para comprar este elefante blanco en particular? Es demasiado para mí.
EN: It was a great big white elephant of a place... the kind crazy movie people built in the crazy '20s.
ES: Era una enorme casa blanca... como las que construían esa loca gente del cine de los locos años 20.
EN: Here's where I took over your highly respectable white elephant.
ES: Aquí es donde yo tomé las riendas de nuestro altamente respetado elefante blanco.
EN: This is a white elephant.
ES: Esto es un elefante blanco.
EN: Yesterday, a white elephant has been discovered in forest of Ayutthaya.
ES: Ayer, se descubrió un elefante blanco en el bosque de Ayutthaya.
EN: Now, where else could you put a hidden room except in that mansion you built, that white elephant you call the Oaks?
ES: ¿Y dónde más estaría que no fuese en tu mansión? Ese elefante blanco al que llamas Mansión Ox.
EN: You know as chips go,Philips is a white elephant
ES: Para ser un chimpancé, Philip es un elefante blanco.

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