Editing White elephant (section)

=== Modern usage ===
[[File:Greystaneswaterbridge.jpg|thumb|[[Boothtown Aqueduct]], [[Western Sydney]], New South Wales, Australia]]
In modern usage, the term now often refers in addition to an extremely expensive building project that fails to deliver on its function or becomes very costly to maintain.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2872499.stm|title=White elephants and worthwhile causes|date=5 June 2003|via=news.bbc.co.uk|access-date=12 September 2020|archive-date=23 January 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210123061443/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/2872499.stm|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jul/18/white-elephants-10-greatest-in-tempo|title=The 10 greatest white elephants &#124; David Shariatmadari|first=David|last=Shariatmadari|newspaper=The Guardian|date=18 July 2013|via=www.theguardian.com|access-date=4 January 2017|archive-date=28 July 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220728070138/https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/jul/18/white-elephants-10-greatest-in-tempo|url-status=live}}</ref> Examples include prestigious but uneconomic infrastructure projects such as airports,<ref>{{cite news |last=Govan |first=Fiona |url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/8807723/Spains-white-elephants-how-countrys-airports-lie-empty.html |title=Spain's white elephants – how country's airports lie empty |work=The Daily Telegraph |date=5 October 2011 |access-date=7 January 2013 |location=London |archive-date=25 August 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120825213045/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/spain/8807723/Spains-white-elephants-how-countrys-airports-lie-empty.html |url-status=live }}</ref> dams,<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.internationalrivers.org/files/African%20Dams%20Briefings%202006.pdf |title=Dams as white elephants |access-date=14 April 2011 |archive-date=2 October 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111002141159/http://www.internationalrivers.org/files/African%20Dams%20Briefings%202006.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> bridges,<ref>{{cite news| url = http://fm.kuac.org/post/state-s-longest-bridge-nears-completion-budget-cuts-may-limit-army-s-ability-use-it| date = November 8, 2013| publisher = KUAC| title = State's Longest Bridge Nears Completion, But Budget Cuts May Limit Army's Ability to Use It| author = Tim Ellis| access-date = August 5, 2014| archive-date = 4 October 2017| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171004085043/http://fm.kuac.org/post/state-s-longest-bridge-nears-completion-budget-cuts-may-limit-army-s-ability-use-it| url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10830905.html|title=Russian bridge of trouble opens to world | work=The New Zealand Herald}}</ref> shopping malls<ref name="businessinsider1">{{cite web |first=Adam |last=Taylor |url=http://www.businessinsider.com/new-south-china-mall-tour-a-ghost-mall-2013-3?op=1 |title=New South China Mall: Tour A Ghost Mall |website=Business Insider |date=5 March 2013 |access-date=14 March 2013 |archive-date=9 March 2013 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130309020001/http://www.businessinsider.com/new-south-china-mall-tour-a-ghost-mall-2013-3?op=1 |url-status=live }}</ref> and football stadiums.<ref name="Guardian Online March 2006">[http://football.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,1734573,00.html Guardian Online]. {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070806002958/http://football.guardian.co.uk/Columnists/Column/0,,1734573,00.html |date=6 August 2007 }} – Guardian Article regarding Stadio delle Alpi March 2006.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/sports/report/070710_worldcup_stadiums/ |title=World Cup: Are South Africa's stadiums white elephants? – The Sentinel |publisher=Tucsonsentinel.com |date=7 July 2010 |access-date=14 April 2011 |archive-date=8 November 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101108033534/http://www.tucsonsentinel.com/sports/report/070710_worldcup_stadiums |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url= https://www.guardian.co.tt/news/grande-80m-white-elephant-leaves-residents-peeved-6.2.1700526.1cf90bbdc0|title= Grande $80M white elephant leaves residents peeved |first= Joshua |last=Seemungal|work=Trinidad Guardian |date=May 7, 2023|access-date=November 21, 2024}} - news story about the [[Sangre Grande Regional Complex]]</ref>

Rail transport projects are also sometimes deemed white elephants. In Japan, it was feared that the [[Yurikamome]] at [[Odaiba]] would end up as a multibillion-yen white elephant.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |last=Iwata |first=Kazuaki |date=June 1998 |title=Tokyo's New Waterfront Transit System |url=https://www.ejrcf.or.jp/jrtr/jrtr16/pdf/f15_iwata.pdf |publisher=Japan Rail and Transport Review |access-date=14 May 2023 |archive-date=7 December 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221207003316/http://www.ejrcf.or.jp/jrtr/jrtr16/pdf/f15_iwata.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> In Singapore, paper cutouts of white elephants were placed next to the completed but unopened [[Buangkok MRT station]] on the [[North East MRT line|North East Line]] in 2005 to protest its non-opening. (The station eventually opened the following year.)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.safetrolley.com/residents-bring-up-white-elephant-buangkok-mrt/ |title=Residents Bring Up 'White Elephant' Buangkok MRT During Minister's Visit |publisher=SafeTrolley |date=7 November 2020 |accessdate=2022-08-02 |archive-date=3 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220703092740/https://www.safetrolley.com/residents-bring-up-white-elephant-buangkok-mrt/ |url-status=live }}</ref>

The American [[Oakland Athletics]] baseball team has used a white elephant as a symbol and usually its main or alternative logo since 1902, originally in sarcastic defiance of [[John McGraw]]'s 1902 characterization of the new team as a "white elephant".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://baseballhall.org/discover/elephant-in-the-room |title=The Elephant in the Room |author=John Odell |publisher=Baseball Hall of Fame |accessdate=April 18, 2021 |archive-date=18 April 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210418203249/https://baseballhall.org/discover/elephant-in-the-room |url-status=live }}</ref> The [[Al Maktoum International Airport]] on the outskirts of [[Dubai]] has also been named a white elephant.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.flightglobal.com/after-boris-island-10-other-airport-follies/114351.article|title=After 'Boris Island': 10 other airport follies|access-date=12 February 2022|archive-date=30 June 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220630165830/https://www.flightglobal.com/after-boris-island-10-other-airport-follies/114351.article|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Roman architecture|Roman-styled]] [[Boothtown Aqueduct]] in [[Sydney]], which was opened in 1888, has been referred to as a "white elephant" for its failure to operate as a long-serving [[Aqueduct (water supply)|aqueduct]].<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/what-did-romans-ever-do-for-sydney-aqueducts-gravity-carried-water-20220728-p5b5hm.html|title= What did Romans ever do for Sydney? Aqueducts, gravity carried water|access-date=14 October 2024|author=Julie Power|publisher = [[Sydney Morning Herald]]}}</ref>

The term has also been applied to outdated or under-performing military projects like the U.S. Navy's [[Alaska-class cruiser|''Alaska''-class cruiser]].<ref>{{cite book|author1=Morison, Samuel Loring |author2=Morison, Samuel Eliot |author3=Polmar, Norman | title=Illustrated Directory of Warships of the World: From 1860 to the Present |publisher=ABC-CLIO |year=2005 |isbn=1-85109-857-7 |page=85}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Looking more like white elephant |publisher=Agence France-Presse |date=14 January 2011 |url=http://www.defencetalk.com/f-35-looking-more-like-white-elephant-31347/ |access-date=17 April 2011 |archive-date=17 March 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110317131531/http://www.defencetalk.com/f-35-looking-more-like-white-elephant-31347/ |url-status=live }}</ref> In [[Austria]], the term "white elephant" means workers who have little or no use, but cannot be dismissed.<ref>[[:de:Weißer Elefant#Redewendung]]</ref>{{Circular reference|date=December 2017}}

A former Polish astronomical observatory built in the [[Carpathian Mountains]] (now part of [[Ukraine]]) in 1938 is nicknamed [[Biały Słoń|White Elephant]] due to its appearance.