an elephant in the room: o que isso significa?

Imagine you have an elephant right in the middle of your room, but still nobody seems to be willing to address it. They'd just rather ignore its inconvenient presence there. Why would people ignore such an obvious issue in their lives like that? When you say you have an elephant in the room, sometimes a pink elephant in the room, it means there's an issue everybody's aware of, but nobody wants to talk about.

There are many reasons for people to avoid such issues. Sometimes they're sore spots or a stigma, something politically incorrect, anything that makes people somehow afraid of bringing up. Let's try to think of an example here. You have a son that's come out as being gay to most of his friends, including some relatives of his, but never came to you to tell you the truth. You and the people who live with him in the same house, though very aware of the sexuality of your son, are not willing to accept that idea straightforward, but instead of facing it head on, you'd just rather pretend there's nothing bugging you. It's like living in denial.

You go to the table for dinner and there's that awkward silence. Nobody dares to touch the issue with a ten foot pole, including your son who thinks it's best to respect your time. So that matter becomes kind of a big uncomfortable matter that'll always be as inconvenient as an elephant in the room as long as nobody finally decides to come clean. That's all for today guys. Talk to you next time!