What's in a Name, White Elephant

Sacred white elephants were and are kept by some Southeast Asian monarchs. Possessing a white elephant was regarded, and still is in Thailand and Burma (Myanmar) as a sign that the monarch reigned with justice and power, and that the kingdom was blessed with peace and prosperity.

It derives from stories that the kings of Siam would make a present of one of these animals to courtiers who were obnoxious or unpleasing, in order to ruin the recipient by the cost of its maintenance. A white elephant was a valuable, but burdensome possession, which its owner could not dispose of and whose cost and upkeep was out of proportion to its usefulness or worth.

These days a white elephant can mean an object, business venture, etc., that is without practical use or value. The term is used in business and even more frequently used during the gift-giving holiday season as friends and relatives strive to find unique gifts to give. Many people consider dried fruit cakes as white elephants.

Wordology

Jumbo was a large African Bush Elephant, born 1861 in the French Sudan, imported to a Paris zoo, transferred to the London Zoo in 1865, and sold in 1882 to P. T. Barnum, for the circus. The giant elephant's name is now a common word 'jumbo', meaning large in size.

What's in a Name, Luke Short

This guy from the old west had a stature that matched his last name. Luke started out hunting and trapping in Nebraska, but discovered his skill at gambling when he would regularly clean out his acquaintances on the trail.

Gambling led to gunfights and he was a gambler/gunfighter for the rest of his life. He went to Colorado mining camps, visited the Earp Brothers’ Oriental Saloon in Tombstone, AZ and ended up in Dodge City, KS in the 1880′s. Luke bought an interest in the Long Branch Saloon and during an ongoing feud with a rival saloon owner, Luke’s friends Bat  Masterson and Wyatt Earp came to town to help him end it.

Short eventually moved on to Fort Worth, TX and bought the White Elephant gambling hall. He famously gunned fellow gunfighter Long-Haired Jim Courtright when Jim tried to extort protection money from him.

In 1893 Luke sold the White Elephant and moved to Kansas City, MO, where he died in bed the same year at age 39 from an unknown ailment.

Back in the old days, 'seeing the elephant' meant having a great adventure. Also, a 'white elephant' was a worthless investment. In the wild west, white had a racist subtext, because frontier saloons tended to be very segregated. Back then, Fort Worth also had another bar called the Black Elephant.

Finally, the White Elephant bar insides were regularly seen in the Chuck Norris, Texas Rangers series. Elephants are more afraid of Chuck Norris than mice.