{"id":5034,"date":"2021-02-23T12:01:03","date_gmt":"2021-02-23T17:01:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/more.cartooncollections.com\/?p=5034"},"modified":"2021-02-23T12:01:03","modified_gmt":"2021-02-23T17:01:03","slug":"elephants-in-the-room-caption-contest-commentary-with-lawrence-wood","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cartoonstock.com\/blog\/elephants-in-the-room-caption-contest-commentary-with-lawrence-wood\/","title":{"rendered":"“Elephants in the Room” Caption Contest Commentary with Lawrence Wood"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"captionIn Teresa Burns Parkhurst\u2019s cartoon, three elephants are in a couple\u2019s living room. The middle elephant says something to the one who\u2019s facing him, while the couple remains oblivious.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe elephant in the room\u201d is a metaphor for an obvious and pressing problem no one wants to discuss, so I first came up with these three captions:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. \u201cWhy won\u2019t they talk about us?\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n
  2. \u201cWe have to talk about the couple in the room.\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n
  3. \u201cOh, I don\u2019t know. I kind of like being a metaphor.\u201d<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    I then tried combining references to both the metaphor and an elephant\u2019s incredible memory: \u201cThere\u2019s a metaphor that applies to this situation but, for the life of me, I can\u2019t remember it.\u201d <\/strong><\/p>\n

    Because there are three elephants in the room, I imagined each one representing a different issue the couple refuses to address: \u201cI\u2019m alcoholism and he\u2019s financial problems, so I\u2019m guessing you\u2019re\u2026the affair?\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Finally, I abandoned the \u201celephant in the room\u201d angle and went in an entirely different direction: \u201cI never thought of us as indoor pets.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

    Now let\u2019s see how you did:<\/p>\n

    Of the more than 1,200 entries I reviewed, the vast majority alluded to the idea that the elephants represent difficult issues the couple would rather not address.<\/p>\n