People who buy or own something that costs a great deal of money to keep up, without serving any useful purpose, are said to own a "white elephant". But there are actual Asian elephants whose skin is so light that they are considered white. These white elephants were once worshipped by the people of Siam (now Thailand), but their name became associated with useless possessions as the result of an act by an ancient Siamese king. When he wished to ruin a person who had displeased him, he would give him a white elephant. Since elephants in captivity eat more than 75kg of food a day, the expense of keeping the animal would certainly ruin the man. -
People who buy or own something that costs a great deal of money to keep up, without serving any useful purpose, are said to own a "white elephant". But there are actual Asian elephants whose skin is so light that they are considered white. These white elephants were once worshipped by the people of Siam (now Thailand), but their name became associated with useless possessions as the result of an act by an ancient Siamese king. When he wished to ruin a person who had displeased him, he would give him a white elephant. Since elephants in captivity eat more than 75kg of food a day, the expense of keeping the animal would certainly ruin the man. -
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Useless possessions ruin people
People who buy or own something that costs a great deal of money to keep up, without serving any useful purpose, are said to own a "white elephant". But there are actual Asian elephants whose skin is so light that they are considered white. These white elephants were once worshipped by the people of Siam (now Thailand), but their name became associated with useless possessions as the result of an act by an ancient Siamese king. When he wished to ruin a person who had displeased him, he would give him a white elephant. Since elephants in captivity eat more than 75kg of food a day, the expense of keeping the animal would certainly ruin the man. -
People who buy or own something that costs a great deal of money to keep up, without serving any useful purpose, are said to own a "white elephant". But there are actual Asian elephants whose skin is so light that they are considered white. These white elephants were once worshipped by the people of Siam (now Thailand), but their name became associated with useless possessions as the result of an act by an ancient Siamese king. When he wished to ruin a person who had displeased him, he would give him a white elephant. Since elephants in captivity eat more than 75kg of food a day, the expense of keeping the animal would certainly ruin the man. -
bigsiteofamazingfacts.com; wikipedia.org; phrases.org.uk