That one never made much sense to me, either. So the elephant is standing in your living room. No elephant would do that, but anyway, there it is, and there’s a sort of unspoken agreement not to mention it, and everyone carries on as if the premises were elephant-free. I know it’s only a metaphorical elephant, but, even so, this scenario doesn’t seem to bear much relation to real life as I have experienced it. Or am I being thick?
For my part, I wish reporters would stop saying that people are “on the ground”. Troops on the ground in Afghanistan... Our people on the ground in Iraq... Where the hell else would they be? Larking around in trees?
The ground, sir, is their habitat.
People in Iraq are on the ground, much as I expected.
