The meaning if not the exact wording dates from at least the 1950s and is possibly some years older than that.
White elephant in the room meaning.
3 a morbidly obese white person.
Definitions by the largest idiom dictionary.
Chicago that s an old indian word meaning get that elephant out of your room.
The first reference to the phrase that i have found is in the charleston gazette july 1952.
2 one or few white person s among many members of another race.
What does white elephant expression mean.
1 a discussion of european or caucasian oppression of minorities in which a white person is present.
A white elephant is a possession which its owner cannot dispose of and whose cost particularly that of maintenance is out of proportion to its usefulness.
Definition of white elephant in the idioms dictionary.
The expression elephant in the room usually the elephant in the room or the elephant in the living room is a metaphorical idiom in english for an important or enormous topic question or controversial issue that is obvious or that everyone knows about but no one mentions or wants to discuss because it makes at least some of them uncomfortable or is personally socially or politically.