How's That Again?

My women's group is a wild and crazy bunch. We party like we're, oh, pre-Metamusil or something. So we were practically giddy this week as we discussed our Christmas celebration.

"Everyone bring a white elephant!"

Nili grew up in China and often finds us puzzling, but she's learned to request a slow-down-back-up when we get into concepts that aren't instinctive to non-native-English speakers.

"What is this white elephant?"

We laughed as we thought of how she imagined our Christmas parties must be, and explained the concept of bringing something she already has but doesn't use because it's not her style or something she didn't want in the first place.

"And we'll do a Chinese exchange!"

Apparently this concept did not originate on the mainland.

English is a weird language sometimes.