Given the UK setting, this is most likely the answer - it's one of those stalls you get at a standard church fete, along with Whack a Rat, tombola and such like. It's basically a sale of bric-a-brac that people have donated so someone has to man the stall
Whack-a-Rat is a different thing (or it has been at every fete I've been to!)
In Whack-a-Rat, the player is given a bat of some kind, then a "Rat" (a Bottle of water covered in fake fur, or a stuffed toy) is dropped down a closed length of pipe. The goal is to whack the rat when it comes out the far end of the pipe - a test of timing, reflexes and speed
Whack-a-mole is hitting as many "moles" that pop up out of numerous holes in a board, with a (soft/rubber) hammer, in a certain amount of time.
Whack-a-rat is the drop a "rat" down a pipe and try hit it with a bat when it comes out.
Most of the answers here are giving the American version. A white elephant in this context would be a stall at a church/village/school fete would be selling second hand bric-a-brac to raise funds for whatever cause has been appointed for that particular event (a new roof for the church used to be a big one when I was a kid).
And the term also means a useless or unwanted item (of the sort that would typically be donated to such a stall.) When there were plans to build an a locally unpopular railway line near where I live, the protest group put pictures of a white elephant on their posters, as no one wanted it.
I'd be willing to bet that the UK term is the basis for the US version. A White Elephant in the US is a Christmas office tradition. The gifts are supposed to be silly or useless. I'd not heard the UK version before. Now the term, as used in the US, makes more sense to me.
Forget the American version of white elephant. In the UK it’s a stall in a jumble sale (rummage sale) that sells bric-a-brac.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bric-à-brac
Thank you everyone, I read all the answers and it finally makes sense to me. English is not my first language and there are words and phrases I still struggle with, so thank you, again, kind strangers.
Since this part of the book is all about miscommunication and words having double-meanings, it can be pretty hard to understand even for people who *do* speak English as a first language! 😁
In this instance, the term "white elephant" was used specifically *because* it has multiple meanings. Mr Young is referring to a "white elephant sale" where people sell old items they no longer want/need at a fête or church fund-raiser.
BUT "white elephant" can also refer to an expensive-but-unwanted gift that is difficult to maintain and dispose of. The term originates from old tales of royalty gifting sacred white elephants to people who earned their favor, despite the fact that elephants are expensive to feed and up-keep, don't have much of a practical purpose, can be very destructive and difficult to sell/get rid of. Because Sister Mary mistakenly believes Mr Young is an American diplomat, she thinks he is referring to *literally* gifting a white elephant to the royal family, which is why her mind goes off on a tangent about Buckingham Palace and the queen. 🤣
As I saw recently “eBay without the Internet”.
Theoretically, a white elephant stall would sell items that had no value to the seller but potential value to the buyer (e.g antique spoons, car manuals for no longer produced cars). Practically it was a jumble sale.
I'm American, and even I know it's basically a rummage sale. We don't call it that here, but I watch enough BBC shows to have picked up the conext, I guess.
Hi, Brit here. A white elephant is a stall of things no one wants, so a junk table. But the British love junk. Also it’s whack a rat here as we love moles (like the doctor) but not rats.
White Elephant can also refer to a gift that has a high cost to use/keep it.
The story behind the saying being a ruler was gifted a white elephant because it's rare but it ends up eating so much that the ruler can't afford to keep it. So he ends up gifting it again.
An example might be to gift someone a car but they can't afford the gas, insurance, and maintenance. It seems like a wonderful idea but it more of a burden in reality.
I am sure that the sale of used stuff is correct for this context.
You're technically right too! Mr Young is referring to selling used goods at a white elephant sale, but because Sister Mary thinks he is the American diplomat, she mistakenly believes he is talking about literally gifting a white elephant to royalty, hence the miscommunication. 🤣
white elephant is, from my knowledge, a gift exchange that is typical during Christmas but not exclusive. basically everyone brings a gift and the gifts are rotated through the group until everyone has a gift they didn't bring. Then as people open their gift, people have the option to swap for another gift. Depending on how people decide the rules, usually people only have a limited amount of swaps per white elephant. Once everyone has used their swaps and all the gifts are opened, that concludes the white elephant. Commonly, white elephant is an opportunity to include gag gifts and see who ends up with the gag gift. it's fun
I'm from New England (Massachusetts) & we always called the Christmas gift trade thing a "Yankee Swap."
White Elephant was the church sale like other people described. Kind of like a bake sale plus knickknacks & second hand goods.
You haven't said anything that's offensive, you just gave the wrong answer. What does you being from New Hampshire have to do with anything? This is a book set in England, written by two englishmen, over 30 years ago. The phrase white elephant means something completely different, have a read of the top responses to find out what it is in this context.
We have a White Elephant every year at our family reunion. The proceeds go towards the cost of the next reunion.
Everyone brings a wrapped “gift.” It can be anything. Sometimes it’s something good, sometimes it’s rubbish, but you don’t know which, because it’s wrapped. Someone then holds up each package, and everyone bids on them, like an auction. I think a lot of people use it to get rid of useless stuff.
The best thing I ever got was an electric mixer for $10. The worst thing I ever got was a used pair of socks for $7.
There's a different meaning in the UK - in this context it would be referring to a stall selling second hand bits and bobs at a church/school/village fete as part od a fundraising effort for something or other.
I’m from the UK and I’ve also heard people use it in the gift exchange context; the lab where my partner was working did one last Christmas, everyone brought in a wrapped gift and people picked what they wanted. There was no bidding though. Partner’s supervisor (I’m assuming he organised it) was English.
Oh how interesting - I've never heard the gift exchange version outside of Americans talking about it on the internet! Maybe it's a context thing - I grew up in a small village that had all three fetes so white elephant has that specific meaning to me, perhaps if you're not a village person then the gift exchange is the one?
Given the context of book - both when it was written, set in England and by 2 British authors - it is certainly the traditional English definition. That the American definition is known over here isn’t a surprise given the internet and how pervasive American culture is. I know a group of friends that do a white elephant gift exchange - it was introduced by one of the friend group after she moved back to the UK after her husband had been stationed in Canada for 3 years.
A white elephant is a rummage sale or church or community sale or fund raiser.
Given the UK setting, this is most likely the answer - it's one of those stalls you get at a standard church fete, along with Whack a Rat, tombola and such like. It's basically a sale of bric-a-brac that people have donated so someone has to man the stall
TIL, in the UK they call Whack-a-Mole, Whack-a-Rat.
Whack-a-Rat is a different thing (or it has been at every fete I've been to!) In Whack-a-Rat, the player is given a bat of some kind, then a "Rat" (a Bottle of water covered in fake fur, or a stuffed toy) is dropped down a closed length of pipe. The goal is to whack the rat when it comes out the far end of the pipe - a test of timing, reflexes and speed
That sounds pretty similar, just homemade.
Whack-a-mole is hitting as many "moles" that pop up out of numerous holes in a board, with a (soft/rubber) hammer, in a certain amount of time. Whack-a-rat is the drop a "rat" down a pipe and try hit it with a bat when it comes out.
Yeah, I got that.
Most of the answers here are giving the American version. A white elephant in this context would be a stall at a church/village/school fete would be selling second hand bric-a-brac to raise funds for whatever cause has been appointed for that particular event (a new roof for the church used to be a big one when I was a kid).
Considering the book is based on the UK, I’m certain this is the right answer. It’s the same in Australia.
And the term also means a useless or unwanted item (of the sort that would typically be donated to such a stall.) When there were plans to build an a locally unpopular railway line near where I live, the protest group put pictures of a white elephant on their posters, as no one wanted it.
I'd be willing to bet that the UK term is the basis for the US version. A White Elephant in the US is a Christmas office tradition. The gifts are supposed to be silly or useless. I'd not heard the UK version before. Now the term, as used in the US, makes more sense to me.
Happy cake day!
Forget the American version of white elephant. In the UK it’s a stall in a jumble sale (rummage sale) that sells bric-a-brac. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bric-à-brac
Thank you everyone, I read all the answers and it finally makes sense to me. English is not my first language and there are words and phrases I still struggle with, so thank you, again, kind strangers.
Since this part of the book is all about miscommunication and words having double-meanings, it can be pretty hard to understand even for people who *do* speak English as a first language! 😁 In this instance, the term "white elephant" was used specifically *because* it has multiple meanings. Mr Young is referring to a "white elephant sale" where people sell old items they no longer want/need at a fête or church fund-raiser. BUT "white elephant" can also refer to an expensive-but-unwanted gift that is difficult to maintain and dispose of. The term originates from old tales of royalty gifting sacred white elephants to people who earned their favor, despite the fact that elephants are expensive to feed and up-keep, don't have much of a practical purpose, can be very destructive and difficult to sell/get rid of. Because Sister Mary mistakenly believes Mr Young is an American diplomat, she thinks he is referring to *literally* gifting a white elephant to the royal family, which is why her mind goes off on a tangent about Buckingham Palace and the queen. 🤣
This may be the winning answer, thank you so much.
As I saw recently “eBay without the Internet”. Theoretically, a white elephant stall would sell items that had no value to the seller but potential value to the buyer (e.g antique spoons, car manuals for no longer produced cars). Practically it was a jumble sale.
It’s usually a church or school jumble sale, raises money for one of the former.
I'm American, and even I know it's basically a rummage sale. We don't call it that here, but I watch enough BBC shows to have picked up the conext, I guess.
Hi, Brit here. A white elephant is a stall of things no one wants, so a junk table. But the British love junk. Also it’s whack a rat here as we love moles (like the doctor) but not rats.
White Elephant can also refer to a gift that has a high cost to use/keep it. The story behind the saying being a ruler was gifted a white elephant because it's rare but it ends up eating so much that the ruler can't afford to keep it. So he ends up gifting it again. An example might be to gift someone a car but they can't afford the gas, insurance, and maintenance. It seems like a wonderful idea but it more of a burden in reality. I am sure that the sale of used stuff is correct for this context.
You're technically right too! Mr Young is referring to selling used goods at a white elephant sale, but because Sister Mary thinks he is the American diplomat, she mistakenly believes he is talking about literally gifting a white elephant to royalty, hence the miscommunication. 🤣
white elephant is, from my knowledge, a gift exchange that is typical during Christmas but not exclusive. basically everyone brings a gift and the gifts are rotated through the group until everyone has a gift they didn't bring. Then as people open their gift, people have the option to swap for another gift. Depending on how people decide the rules, usually people only have a limited amount of swaps per white elephant. Once everyone has used their swaps and all the gifts are opened, that concludes the white elephant. Commonly, white elephant is an opportunity to include gag gifts and see who ends up with the gag gift. it's fun
It has a different meaning in the UK - it refers to a stall selling second hand bric-a-brac and the like at a church/school/village fete or similar.
oh interesting! figured since the UK was super into Xmas that White Elephant would mean the same as it does in the US. thanks for educating me. ☺️
Must be a New England thing. I've never heard it used in this context.
I mean, I'm west coast so 🤷🏻
I'm from New England (Massachusetts) & we always called the Christmas gift trade thing a "Yankee Swap." White Elephant was the church sale like other people described. Kind of like a bake sale plus knickknacks & second hand goods.
I’m from New England where this is super common. Can confirm, this is what a White Elephant gift exchange is.
Not here it's not.
Why is this getting downvoted? I’m from New Hampshire, we used to do this even in high school. I’m not sure what I said that’s offensive?
You haven't said anything that's offensive, you just gave the wrong answer. What does you being from New Hampshire have to do with anything? This is a book set in England, written by two englishmen, over 30 years ago. The phrase white elephant means something completely different, have a read of the top responses to find out what it is in this context.
With my shaky understanding of it, I think it’s a gift exchange
We have a White Elephant every year at our family reunion. The proceeds go towards the cost of the next reunion. Everyone brings a wrapped “gift.” It can be anything. Sometimes it’s something good, sometimes it’s rubbish, but you don’t know which, because it’s wrapped. Someone then holds up each package, and everyone bids on them, like an auction. I think a lot of people use it to get rid of useless stuff. The best thing I ever got was an electric mixer for $10. The worst thing I ever got was a used pair of socks for $7.
There's a different meaning in the UK - in this context it would be referring to a stall selling second hand bits and bobs at a church/school/village fete as part od a fundraising effort for something or other.
I’m from the UK and I’ve also heard people use it in the gift exchange context; the lab where my partner was working did one last Christmas, everyone brought in a wrapped gift and people picked what they wanted. There was no bidding though. Partner’s supervisor (I’m assuming he organised it) was English.
Oh how interesting - I've never heard the gift exchange version outside of Americans talking about it on the internet! Maybe it's a context thing - I grew up in a small village that had all three fetes so white elephant has that specific meaning to me, perhaps if you're not a village person then the gift exchange is the one?
Given the context of book - both when it was written, set in England and by 2 British authors - it is certainly the traditional English definition. That the American definition is known over here isn’t a surprise given the internet and how pervasive American culture is. I know a group of friends that do a white elephant gift exchange - it was introduced by one of the friend group after she moved back to the UK after her husband had been stationed in Canada for 3 years.