{"id":9202,"date":"2026-05-25T03:04:35","date_gmt":"2026-05-25T02:04:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/?p=9202"},"modified":"2026-05-25T18:09:16","modified_gmt":"2026-05-25T17:09:16","slug":"expresiones-intraducibles-the-elephant-in-the-room","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2026\/05\/25\/expresiones-intraducibles-the-elephant-in-the-room\/","title":{"rendered":"Untranslatable expressions: the elephant in the room"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today I\u00b4d like to talk to you about elephants and metaphors, though this time they\u00b4re not the same as the elephant and metaphor in this other article<\/a> (which, by the way, I highly recommend that you read, if you haven\u00b4t done so yet).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u00b4s an expression in English that\u00b4s very widely used, the elephant in the room<\/em> <\/strong>(which literally translates into Spanish as \"el elefante en la sala\") to refer to a difficult and problematic topic, something that nobody wants to talk about, but that\u00b4s at the same time impossible to ignore<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One such topic is mental health<\/strong>, which is fortunately being discussed a little more openly nowadays, although there\u00b4s still a lot more that needs to be done in that area. For a few years now, here in Ireland, there\u00b4s a movement called exactly that, Elephant in the Room<\/a><\/em>, which promotes conversations about mental health in the workplace, with the aim of normalising them. And the way they give visibility to this problem is literally by placing an elephant in the room: so far, they\u00b4ve delivered almost two hundred artistic baby elephant sculptures to all kinds of companies, institutions and education centres, in Ireland and abroad. Here are pictures of two of them:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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\"\"<\/a><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Elephant sculptures seen some time ago in Blanchardstown Town Centre (left) and Maynooth University (right).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

These elephants are a reminder that, behind a facade of apparent normality, anyone could be suffering<\/strong>. And if we don\u00b4t go beyond the customary \"hi, how are you?\" and superficial conversation before hurrying to do something else, we\u00b4re never going to find out who\u00b4s dying to have the opportunity to let something off their chest. It\u00b4s up to us to dedicate time and effort to connecting with others and truly listening to them<\/strong>, and be part of a support network where we can be there for each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Because, in this day and age, who wouldn\u00b4t benefit from a little more support and understanding? We are living a historical period in which we\u00b4re both more connected and more disconnected than ever<\/strong>. And we\u00b4re also most certainly more disoriented than ever<\/strong>, with everything moving at breakneck speed...<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There\u00b4s one more elephant that comes to mind that we can talk about, one that I personally avoid as much as I can, although it\u00b4s becoming harder and harder to ignore, having become almost omnipresent. A technology so radical and disruptive that nobody has any idea where it can take us<\/strong>. Can you guess what it is? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course, I\u00b4m referring to the the astonishing and terrifying artificial intelligence<\/strong>: a entity (or rather, the sum of millions of entities) with the ability to both produce the most incredible advancements for Humanity and cause more havoc than a bull in a china shop<\/strong> (another very graphic metaphor starring an animal, and in Spanish, the equivalent is actually an elephant in a glassware shop).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have been resisting the idea of talking about AI in this blog, and to be honest, I still don\u00b4t feel like writing about it. For the moment, it\u00b4s enough to say that I\u00b4m finding it a source of a lot of uncertainty<\/strong>, as I\u00b4m sure it is for many others as well, and when there\u00b4s uncertainty, there\u00b4s always discomfort and restlessness<\/strong>. Interestingly, what I noticed that helps me personally is talking about this topic with others; not specifically about AI as such, but about my reluctance and my worries, my uncertainty and fears. I think it\u00b4s because it opens the door for others to also open up, and get to speak more honestly and openly about what worries them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Which brings me back to the initial idea with the elephants and mental health: sometimes we don\u00b4t realise when tension and worry start building up, and one day we suddenly find that we\u00b4re carrying a heavy burden<\/strong> and we don\u00b4t even know where it came from. An open and honest conversation with someone we trust can be really beneficial<\/strong>, as well as dedicating time to take care of ourselves, in whichever way we need<\/strong>, without guilt, so that we can make sure we\u00b4re OK and have physical, mental and emotional energy to keep going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What about you, have you seen any of the elephants? Which one is your favourite? And what\u00b4s your \"elephant in the room\" at this particular moment?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hoy quiero hablaros de elefantes y de met\u00e1foras, aunque no del mismo elefante ni de la misma met\u00e1fora a los que me refer\u00eda en este otro art\u00edculo (que, por cierto, os recomiendo encarecidamente que le\u00e1is, si no lo hab\u00e9is hecho todav\u00eda). En ingl\u00e9s se utiliza mucho la expresi\u00f3n the elephant in the room (literalmente, \u00abel … Continue reading Untranslatable expressions: the elephant in the room<\/span><\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"author":3116429,"featured_media":9201,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_coblocks_attr":"","_coblocks_dimensions":"","_coblocks_responsive_height":"","_coblocks_accordion_ie_support":"","advanced_seo_description":"BinaryWords - Expresiones intraducibles: the elephant in the room \/ Untranslatable expressions: the elephant in the room ","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_wpcom_ai_launchpad_first_post":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"Un elefante, se balanceaba... \/ Any nursery rhymes with elephants?","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"_wpas_customize_per_network":false,"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[5107,5145,1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9202","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-emociones","category-intraducibles","category-general","fallback-thumbnail"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3DPtR-2oq","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":9635,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2026\/08\/31\/reto-de-30-dias\/","url_meta":{"origin":9202,"position":0},"title":"30-day challenge","author":"binarybea","date":"31\/08\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"\u00bfQu\u00e9 opinas de los retos de 30 d\u00edas? \u00bfAlguna vez has hecho alguno? Ahora que est\u00e1 a punto de empezar septiembre, es un muy buen momento para plante\u00e1rselo (y me acabo de dar cuenta de que hace dos a\u00f1os escrib\u00ed pr\u00e1cticamente lo mismo, cuando me propuse el reto de 30\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Herramientas"","block_context":{"text":"Herramientas","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/herramientas\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_20260830_084440.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_20260830_084440.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_20260830_084440.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_20260830_084440.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/IMG_20260830_084440.jpg?fit=1200%2C900&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":9688,"url":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/2026\/09\/14\/ventanas-al-mundo\/","url_meta":{"origin":9202,"position":1},"title":"Windows to the world","author":"binarybea","date":"14\/09\/2026","format":false,"excerpt":"Esta semana o\u00ed un comentario en la radio que me pareci\u00f3 curioso: dec\u00edan algo as\u00ed como que muchos j\u00f3venes de hoy en d\u00eda consideran que se puede saber m\u00e1s de c\u00f3mo es realmente una persona por los libros que posee que por su perfil en redes sociales. \u00bfT\u00fa qu\u00e9 opinas?\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Personal"","block_context":{"text":"Personal","link":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/category\/diario-journal\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_20260822_195817-e1789341732906.jpg?fit=1200%2C756&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_20260822_195817-e1789341732906.jpg?fit=1200%2C756&ssl=1&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_20260822_195817-e1789341732906.jpg?fit=1200%2C756&ssl=1&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_20260822_195817-e1789341732906.jpg?fit=1200%2C756&ssl=1&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/09\/IMG_20260822_195817-e1789341732906.jpg?fit=1200%2C756&ssl=1&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"amp_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/binarywords.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/05\/IMG_20241012_143201.jpg?fit=4000%2C3000&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9202","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3116429"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=9202"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9202\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9216,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9202\/revisions\/9216"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9201"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=9202"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=9202"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/binarywords.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=9202"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}