Like three blind mice trying to describe an elephant

Coworkers had different perspectives of the same issue, and this nice malaphor was unintentionally uttered. It is a mashup of the nursery rhyme “Three Blind Mice” and the parable of “the blind men and an elephant”.

The parable of the blind men and an elephant tells of a group of blind men who encounter an elephant for the first time. Each man touches a different part of the elephant (trunk, leg, ear, etc.) and describes the whole elephant based on their limited tactile experience. They each have a different perception of the elephant, leading to a disagreement about what the elephant is like. The story is often used to illustrate how individual perspectives, while potentially valid, can be incomplete and lead to misunderstanding when not integrated with other viewpoints. 

Interestingly, none of the coworkers corrected the speaker (maybe they had never heard of the parable?). I was happy to hear that the speaker then wrote this one in the back pages of the office’s copy of my book, “He Smokes Like a Fish and Other Malaphors“. A shout out to Frozen Cusser for sending this one and a big thank you for adding it to my book!