What does “like an elephant's eye” mean?












1














What does “like an elephant's eye” mean from "We seldom ever have an argument, but if it is, it's about something like an elephant's eye"? The sentence is from an interview, an old couple talks about their relationship. I googled, but can't find the meaning.



Thank you! :)










share|improve this question






















  • english.stackexchange.com/questions/448780/…
    – lbf
    Jan 6 at 13:24






  • 1




    It's about something like a potato's eye or a tornado's eye. "Like an elephant's eye" is not an idiom. "Like", in this case, isn't being used to suggest a simile, but rather simply means "similar to". The main implication is that it's about something that's unimportant and that the arguer knows very little about -- something not worth arguing about.
    – Hot Licks
    Jan 6 at 13:32












  • @lbf I don't think "as high as an elephant's eye" is as same as "like an elephant's eye".
    – Xiangwei Chen
    2 days ago












  • @Hot Licks Thank you! But I still can't understand the connection between "an elephant's eye" and "unimportant ".
    – Xiangwei Chen
    2 days ago






  • 1




    "We seldom ever have an argument, but if it is, it's about something like an elephant's eye" - This sentence is not written by a native speaker. We would not say, "if it is", we would say "if we do". Where did you find this sentence? (Note that "seldom ever" is also incorrect although some less well-educated natives might say it)
    – chasly from UK
    2 days ago


















1














What does “like an elephant's eye” mean from "We seldom ever have an argument, but if it is, it's about something like an elephant's eye"? The sentence is from an interview, an old couple talks about their relationship. I googled, but can't find the meaning.



Thank you! :)










share|improve this question






















  • english.stackexchange.com/questions/448780/…
    – lbf
    Jan 6 at 13:24






  • 1




    It's about something like a potato's eye or a tornado's eye. "Like an elephant's eye" is not an idiom. "Like", in this case, isn't being used to suggest a simile, but rather simply means "similar to". The main implication is that it's about something that's unimportant and that the arguer knows very little about -- something not worth arguing about.
    – Hot Licks
    Jan 6 at 13:32












  • @lbf I don't think "as high as an elephant's eye" is as same as "like an elephant's eye".
    – Xiangwei Chen
    2 days ago












  • @Hot Licks Thank you! But I still can't understand the connection between "an elephant's eye" and "unimportant ".
    – Xiangwei Chen
    2 days ago






  • 1




    "We seldom ever have an argument, but if it is, it's about something like an elephant's eye" - This sentence is not written by a native speaker. We would not say, "if it is", we would say "if we do". Where did you find this sentence? (Note that "seldom ever" is also incorrect although some less well-educated natives might say it)
    – chasly from UK
    2 days ago
















1












1








1







What does “like an elephant's eye” mean from "We seldom ever have an argument, but if it is, it's about something like an elephant's eye"? The sentence is from an interview, an old couple talks about their relationship. I googled, but can't find the meaning.



Thank you! :)










share|improve this question













What does “like an elephant's eye” mean from "We seldom ever have an argument, but if it is, it's about something like an elephant's eye"? The sentence is from an interview, an old couple talks about their relationship. I googled, but can't find the meaning.



Thank you! :)







meaning phrases idioms american-english






share|improve this question













share|improve this question











share|improve this question




share|improve this question










asked Jan 6 at 13:12









Xiangwei ChenXiangwei Chen

133




133












  • english.stackexchange.com/questions/448780/…
    – lbf
    Jan 6 at 13:24






  • 1




    It's about something like a potato's eye or a tornado's eye. "Like an elephant's eye" is not an idiom. "Like", in this case, isn't being used to suggest a simile, but rather simply means "similar to". The main implication is that it's about something that's unimportant and that the arguer knows very little about -- something not worth arguing about.
    – Hot Licks
    Jan 6 at 13:32












  • @lbf I don't think "as high as an elephant's eye" is as same as "like an elephant's eye".
    – Xiangwei Chen
    2 days ago












  • @Hot Licks Thank you! But I still can't understand the connection between "an elephant's eye" and "unimportant ".
    – Xiangwei Chen
    2 days ago






  • 1




    "We seldom ever have an argument, but if it is, it's about something like an elephant's eye" - This sentence is not written by a native speaker. We would not say, "if it is", we would say "if we do". Where did you find this sentence? (Note that "seldom ever" is also incorrect although some less well-educated natives might say it)
    – chasly from UK
    2 days ago




















  • english.stackexchange.com/questions/448780/…
    – lbf
    Jan 6 at 13:24






  • 1




    It's about something like a potato's eye or a tornado's eye. "Like an elephant's eye" is not an idiom. "Like", in this case, isn't being used to suggest a simile, but rather simply means "similar to". The main implication is that it's about something that's unimportant and that the arguer knows very little about -- something not worth arguing about.
    – Hot Licks
    Jan 6 at 13:32












  • @lbf I don't think "as high as an elephant's eye" is as same as "like an elephant's eye".
    – Xiangwei Chen
    2 days ago












  • @Hot Licks Thank you! But I still can't understand the connection between "an elephant's eye" and "unimportant ".
    – Xiangwei Chen
    2 days ago






  • 1




    "We seldom ever have an argument, but if it is, it's about something like an elephant's eye" - This sentence is not written by a native speaker. We would not say, "if it is", we would say "if we do". Where did you find this sentence? (Note that "seldom ever" is also incorrect although some less well-educated natives might say it)
    – chasly from UK
    2 days ago


















english.stackexchange.com/questions/448780/…
– lbf
Jan 6 at 13:24




english.stackexchange.com/questions/448780/…
– lbf
Jan 6 at 13:24




1




1




It's about something like a potato's eye or a tornado's eye. "Like an elephant's eye" is not an idiom. "Like", in this case, isn't being used to suggest a simile, but rather simply means "similar to". The main implication is that it's about something that's unimportant and that the arguer knows very little about -- something not worth arguing about.
– Hot Licks
Jan 6 at 13:32






It's about something like a potato's eye or a tornado's eye. "Like an elephant's eye" is not an idiom. "Like", in this case, isn't being used to suggest a simile, but rather simply means "similar to". The main implication is that it's about something that's unimportant and that the arguer knows very little about -- something not worth arguing about.
– Hot Licks
Jan 6 at 13:32














@lbf I don't think "as high as an elephant's eye" is as same as "like an elephant's eye".
– Xiangwei Chen
2 days ago






@lbf I don't think "as high as an elephant's eye" is as same as "like an elephant's eye".
– Xiangwei Chen
2 days ago














@Hot Licks Thank you! But I still can't understand the connection between "an elephant's eye" and "unimportant ".
– Xiangwei Chen
2 days ago




@Hot Licks Thank you! But I still can't understand the connection between "an elephant's eye" and "unimportant ".
– Xiangwei Chen
2 days ago




1




1




"We seldom ever have an argument, but if it is, it's about something like an elephant's eye" - This sentence is not written by a native speaker. We would not say, "if it is", we would say "if we do". Where did you find this sentence? (Note that "seldom ever" is also incorrect although some less well-educated natives might say it)
– chasly from UK
2 days ago






"We seldom ever have an argument, but if it is, it's about something like an elephant's eye" - This sentence is not written by a native speaker. We would not say, "if it is", we would say "if we do". Where did you find this sentence? (Note that "seldom ever" is also incorrect although some less well-educated natives might say it)
– chasly from UK
2 days ago












1 Answer
1






active

oldest

votes


















1














This is an example of the use of a nonsence word.




"We seldom ever have an argument, but if it is, it's about something
like an elephant's eye."




nonsense words TFD




words are used in literature for poetic or humorous effect. Proper
names of real or fictional entities are sometimes nonsense words.




The sentence could have been written:




"We seldom ever have an argument, but if we do, it's about
the weather on mars!"




meaning




"Our arguments were rare and were about nothing of significance."







share|improve this answer























    Your Answer








    StackExchange.ready(function() {
    var channelOptions = {
    tags: "".split(" "),
    id: "97"
    };
    initTagRenderer("".split(" "), "".split(" "), channelOptions);

    StackExchange.using("externalEditor", function() {
    // Have to fire editor after snippets, if snippets enabled
    if (StackExchange.settings.snippets.snippetsEnabled) {
    StackExchange.using("snippets", function() {
    createEditor();
    });
    }
    else {
    createEditor();
    }
    });

    function createEditor() {
    StackExchange.prepareEditor({
    heartbeatType: 'answer',
    autoActivateHeartbeat: false,
    convertImagesToLinks: false,
    noModals: true,
    showLowRepImageUploadWarning: true,
    reputationToPostImages: null,
    bindNavPrevention: true,
    postfix: "",
    imageUploader: {
    brandingHtml: "Powered by u003ca class="icon-imgur-white" href="https://imgur.com/"u003eu003c/au003e",
    contentPolicyHtml: "User contributions licensed under u003ca href="https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/"u003ecc by-sa 3.0 with attribution requiredu003c/au003e u003ca href="https://stackoverflow.com/legal/content-policy"u003e(content policy)u003c/au003e",
    allowUrls: true
    },
    noCode: true, onDemand: true,
    discardSelector: ".discard-answer"
    ,immediatelyShowMarkdownHelp:true
    });


    }
    });














    draft saved

    draft discarded


















    StackExchange.ready(
    function () {
    StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f480092%2fwhat-does-like-an-elephants-eye-mean%23new-answer', 'question_page');
    }
    );

    Post as a guest















    Required, but never shown

























    1 Answer
    1






    active

    oldest

    votes








    1 Answer
    1






    active

    oldest

    votes









    active

    oldest

    votes






    active

    oldest

    votes









    1














    This is an example of the use of a nonsence word.




    "We seldom ever have an argument, but if it is, it's about something
    like an elephant's eye."




    nonsense words TFD




    words are used in literature for poetic or humorous effect. Proper
    names of real or fictional entities are sometimes nonsense words.




    The sentence could have been written:




    "We seldom ever have an argument, but if we do, it's about
    the weather on mars!"




    meaning




    "Our arguments were rare and were about nothing of significance."







    share|improve this answer




























      1














      This is an example of the use of a nonsence word.




      "We seldom ever have an argument, but if it is, it's about something
      like an elephant's eye."




      nonsense words TFD




      words are used in literature for poetic or humorous effect. Proper
      names of real or fictional entities are sometimes nonsense words.




      The sentence could have been written:




      "We seldom ever have an argument, but if we do, it's about
      the weather on mars!"




      meaning




      "Our arguments were rare and were about nothing of significance."







      share|improve this answer


























        1












        1








        1






        This is an example of the use of a nonsence word.




        "We seldom ever have an argument, but if it is, it's about something
        like an elephant's eye."




        nonsense words TFD




        words are used in literature for poetic or humorous effect. Proper
        names of real or fictional entities are sometimes nonsense words.




        The sentence could have been written:




        "We seldom ever have an argument, but if we do, it's about
        the weather on mars!"




        meaning




        "Our arguments were rare and were about nothing of significance."







        share|improve this answer














        This is an example of the use of a nonsence word.




        "We seldom ever have an argument, but if it is, it's about something
        like an elephant's eye."




        nonsense words TFD




        words are used in literature for poetic or humorous effect. Proper
        names of real or fictional entities are sometimes nonsense words.




        The sentence could have been written:




        "We seldom ever have an argument, but if we do, it's about
        the weather on mars!"




        meaning




        "Our arguments were rare and were about nothing of significance."








        share|improve this answer














        share|improve this answer



        share|improve this answer








        edited 2 days ago

























        answered 2 days ago









        lbflbf

        18k21864




        18k21864






























            draft saved

            draft discarded




















































            Thanks for contributing an answer to English Language & Usage Stack Exchange!


            • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

            But avoid



            • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

            • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


            To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.





            Some of your past answers have not been well-received, and you're in danger of being blocked from answering.


            Please pay close attention to the following guidance:


            • Please be sure to answer the question. Provide details and share your research!

            But avoid



            • Asking for help, clarification, or responding to other answers.

            • Making statements based on opinion; back them up with references or personal experience.


            To learn more, see our tips on writing great answers.




            draft saved


            draft discarded














            StackExchange.ready(
            function () {
            StackExchange.openid.initPostLogin('.new-post-login', 'https%3a%2f%2fenglish.stackexchange.com%2fquestions%2f480092%2fwhat-does-like-an-elephants-eye-mean%23new-answer', 'question_page');
            }
            );

            Post as a guest















            Required, but never shown





















































            Required, but never shown














            Required, but never shown












            Required, but never shown







            Required, but never shown

































            Required, but never shown














            Required, but never shown












            Required, but never shown







            Required, but never shown







            Popular posts from this blog

            "Incorrect syntax near the keyword 'ON'. (on update cascade, on delete cascade,)

            Alcedinidae

            Origin of the phrase “under your belt”?