Have you been to see the elephant?

A recent "This Day in Arizona History" column mentioned a mammoth skeleton that was discovered near Hereford. This reminded me of a saying in the Old West: "I've been to see the elephant."

Apparently, somewhere in the West was such a skeleton. It was a rite of passage for young cowboys to get drunk and go see the skeleton. Thus they could brag, "I've been to see the elephant."

I don't know the source of this story or the location of the skeleton, but it is cute and might be of interest to your readers after you do your usual diligent research.

I've done my usual diligent research and it showed me what I already believed to be true: You're wrong. To "see the elephant" had nothing to do with cowboys or getting drunk or mammoth skeletons. Besides, why would you have to get drunk to see a mammoth skeleton in the first place?

"To see the elephant" is a piece of American English that dates to around the 1830s. It means to gain knowledge with actual experience. For instance, going into town to see an elephant — an animal perhaps heard of but never seen — at a traveling circus.

It often carries a certain air of disappointment, as if a long-anticipated experience proved to be less than promised.

During the Civil War, "to see the elephant" meant to have been in actual combat.

Maybe drunken cowboys saw pink elephants? Nope. That expression for intoxicated hallucinations didn't come along until around 1913.

Reach Clay Thompson at clay.thompson@arizonarepublic.com or 602-444-8612.