Today’s WordPress writing prompt asked: “What’s a book you never finished but still think about?” It immediately made me think of this.
Yes. In my case, it is a book I haven’t finished writing.
It is a kind of travel book, but also a joke book, built around an old Estonian joke about cultural differences.
An Estonian, a German and an American are looking at an elephant. The American thinks: What a magnificent animal. I wonder how much it costs. The German thinks: What a strong animal. I wonder how much work it could do. And the Estonian thinks: I wonder what it thinks of me.
So when I meet someone abroad, or a foreigner in Estonia, and I don’t yet have an answer from their country, and the conversation seems suitable, I ask: What would someone from your country think when seeing an elephant? Of course, I tell them the original joke first and ask them to follow the same pattern.
The answers are sometimes exactly what you would expect and sometimes not at all.
Canada: I’m sorry.
Russia: I need to get one for my child as a pet. All the neighbours will be jealous.
Myanmar: Is it really white, or has someone painted it? White elephants have an important symbolic meaning there, and after the ruling junta announced the birth of one a few years ago, some locals apparently had their doubts about just how white it really was.
Last year I also started collecting answers from individual US states.
Texas: Too big for a rodeo.
California: We need to start a fund to raise enough money to send it back to Africa.
These are just a few examples from the answers I’ve collected over the years, both from different countries and from individual US states.
I am still collecting answers, so you can help me with the book. Tell me what someone from your country, region or state would think when looking at an elephant. I may already have an answer from your country, but please send yours anyway – two people from the same country don’t necessarily see an elephant the same way.
There are no wrong answers.
One request, though: please don’t use AI for this one. Think of your own answer. AI is fascinating, but for this particular project it would defeat the whole point.
nexttrip123@gmail.com