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{{short description|Euphemism for drunken hallucination caused by alcoholic hallucinosis or delirium tremens}}
{{Other uses|Pink elephant (disambiguation)}}
[[File:PinkElephantsDTs.png|thumb|A 1921 illustration of a man with [[delirium tremens]] seeing pink elephants]]
"'''Seeing pink elephants'''" is a [[euphemism]] for [[hallucination]]s caused by [[delirium tremens]] or [[alcoholic hallucinosis]], especially the former. The term dates back to at least the early 20th century, emerging from earlier idioms about seeing snakes and other creatures. An alcoholic character in [[Jack London]]'s 1913 novel ''[[John Barleycorn (novel)|John Barleycorn]]''
Pink elephants actually exist in nature. Although they are extremely rare, [[albino elephant]]
▲"'''Seeing pink elephants'''" is a [[euphemism]] for [[hallucination]]s caused by [[delirium tremens]] or [[alcoholic hallucinosis]], especially the former. The term dates back to at least the early 20th century, emerging from earlier idioms about seeing snakes and other creatures. An alcoholic character in [[Jack London]]'s 1913 novel ''[[John Barleycorn (novel)|John Barleycorn]]'' is said to hallucinate "blue mice and pink elephants". Another notable instance of the appearance of pink elephants in popular culture is the "[[Pink Elephants on Parade]]" section of the 1941 [[Walt Disney]] animated film ''[[Dumbo]]''.
▲Pink elephants actually exist in nature. Although they are extremely rare, [[albino]] elephants can appear to be pink as well as white.<ref>{{cite web|first=Rebecca |last=Morelle |author-link=Rebecca Morelle |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/7951331.stm|title=Pink elephant is caught on camera|publisher=BBC News |date=March 20, 2009}}</ref>
==History of the euphemism==
For many decades before "pink elephant" became the standard drunken hallucination, people were known to "see snakes" or "see snakes in their boots."<ref
In
An early literary use of the term is by Jack London in 1913, who describes one kind of alcoholic, in the autobiographical ''John Barleycorn'':<blockquote>
There are, broadly speaking, two types of drinkers. There is the man whom we all know, stupid, unimaginative, whose brain is bitten numbly by numb maggots; who walks generously with wide-spread, tentative legs, falls frequently in the gutter, and who sees, in the extremity of his ecstasy, blue mice and pink elephants. He is the type that gives rise to the jokes in the funny papers.<ref>[[Jack London|London, Jack]] [[s:John Barleycorn (London)/Chapter II|''John Barleycorn'' Chapter II, at Wikisource]]</ref>
</blockquote>
"Pink elephants" became the dominant animal of drunken-hallucination choice by about 1905, although other animals and other colors were still regularly invoked. "Seeing snakes" or "seeing snakes in one's boots" was in regular use into the 1920s.<ref name=colorful>{{cite web|last1=Brown|first1=Peter Jensen|title=The Colorful History and Etymology of "Pink Elephant"|url=http://esnpc.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-colorful-history-and-etymology-of.html|website=Early Sports 'n' Pop-Culture History|date=20 August 2014 |access-date=12 April 2016}}</ref>
In the comic book [[Action Comics 1|''Action Comics'' #1]], published in 1938, [[Lois Lane]] reports at the ''[[Daily Planet]]'' newspaper that she witnessed [[Superman]]. Her editor brushes off Lois's story, asking if it was pink elephants she was seeing.
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A well-known reference to pink elephants occurs in the [[1941 in film|1941]] [[Walt Disney|Disney]] animated film ''[[Dumbo]]''. In a segment known as "[[Pink Elephants on Parade]]", after taking a drink of water from a bucket spiked with [[Champagne (wine)|champagne]], Dumbo and Timothy begin to hallucinate singing and dancing elephants.
==In alcohol marketing==
[[File:Brauerei Huyghe 2014 1.JPG|thumb|Brouwerij Huyghe in 2014.]]
The association between pink elephants and alcohol is reflected in the name of various alcoholic drinks. There are various cocktails called "Pink Elephant",<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bouchard|first1=Cathy|last2=Foley|first2=Ray|name-list-style=and|title=Ultimate Little Cocktail Book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZZBfeM7_-YQC&pg=PT31|date=November 1, 2011|publisher=Sourcebooks|isbn=9781402254109|page=31}}</ref> and The [[Huyghe Brewery]] put a pink elephant on the label of its [[Delirium Tremens (beer)|Delirium Tremens]] beer.<ref>{{Cite web|title=The Pink Elephant beer: Delirium Tremens|url=https://belgianbeers.co.uk/2020/05/29/the-pink-elephant-beer-delirium-tremens/|date=2020-05-29|website=Belgian Beers|language=en-US}}</ref>▼
▲The association between pink elephants and alcohol is reflected in the name of various alcoholic drinks. There are various cocktails called "Pink Elephant",<ref>{{cite book|last1=Bouchard|first1=Cathy|last2=Foley|first2=Ray|name-list-style=and|title=Ultimate Little Cocktail Book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=ZZBfeM7_-YQC&pg=PT31|date=November 1, 2011|publisher=Sourcebooks|isbn=9781402254109|page=31}}</ref> and
== See also ==
* [[Elephant in the room|(Pink) elephant in the room]]
* [[Ironic process theory]] ("Don't think of a pink elephant")
*[[Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds]]
==References==
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[[Category:Euphemisms]]
[[Category:Alcohol abuse]]
[[Category:Metaphors referring to elephants]]
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