like an elephant's memory
1
7.1
- idiom
:
memoria de elefante
- With like an elephant's memory, he remembered every detail from his childhood.
Examples
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She remembers everyone's name like an elephant's memory.
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You need like an elephant's memory to keep track of all these facts.
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She says her grandmother has like an elephant's memory and never forgets a birthday.
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My grandmother has a memory like an elephant's memory.
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She can remember details from her childhood like an elephant's memory.
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His like an elephant's memory helped him recall facts for the quiz without any hesitation.
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People often say that I have a memory like an elephant's memory because I rarely forget a name.
Antonyms
How Sharp
Surface Forms
Morphology
like + an + elephant's + memory
This is a simple simile: the word 'like' plus 'elephant's memory' signals a comparison to the stereotypical quality of elephants (having very good memory), so the meaning is directly inferable from the constituents. The animal-memory metaphor is cross-linguistically common, so a B1 learner who knows the words will readily understand the intended meaning.
Etymology
Like an elephant's memory comes from the idea that elephants remember people and places for many years, so their memory seems very strong. That's why the phrase means 'to have a very good memory'.