In fact, until recently, I thought white elephants existed only as rare animals and not-so-rare metaphors.

Now I know differently.

As community editor of this newspaper, I see hundreds of news items each week, and many of them contain terms I've heard but never really understood.

It occurred to me that maybe a few readers were wondering, too, so I did some research and came up with the following community-news glossary.

Chinese auctions, sometimes called penny socials, are popular fund-raisers for local churches and community groups.

The event is actually more of a raffle than an auction. Tickets are sold, and a container is placed next to each auction item. Participants "bid" by placing as many tickets as they wish into the containers next to the items they want. At a designated time, the "auctioneer" draws a ticket at random from each container, and the corresponding ticketholder wins the item.

The Chinese auction is not to be confused with the pound auction, another fund-raiser that occasionally pops up in the community pages. Margaret Hazlett of the Treadwell Community Improvement Club, which held a pound auction Tuesday, described it as "a fun way to raise a little money."

Each person invited to the event brings a wrapped item that weighs a pound (in Hazlett's case, it was a package of confectioners' sugar). Each mystery item is auctioned off to the highest bidder, and then everyone opens the packages to see what they've won.

The white elephant is, quite possibly, the most interesting term to regularly grace the What's Going On calendar.

Webster's dictionary defines a white elephant as "an albino elephant," "something from which little profit or use is derived; especially such a possession maintained at much expense" and "any object no longer desired by its owner, but of possible value to others."

You might have heard the term last May, when a white elephant was caught in the jungles of western Burma. The capture made the news because the rare albinos have been revered in Southeast Asia for centuries. In ancient times, the animal was considered a sacred symbol of prosperity. Kings pampered them and sometimes strategically gave them away. The elephant — and all the luxurious care it required — was an honor that could not be refused.

You might also find a white elephant on a specially marked table at a church bazaar. It's a popular — and potentially lucrative — fund-raiser. In Chicago, the Children's Memorial Hospital White Elephant Shop has raised millions of dollars for the hospital since 1919, one "gently-used" item at a time.

Or, you might have received an invitation to a white elephant party which, from what I can tell, is about the same thing as a Yankee swap.

The Rev. Harry Myers of the Laurens Presbyterian Church explained this to me recently. Everyone brings a wrapped gift, and all the gifts are placed into a pile. Guests are given numbers as they arrive, or their names are randomly drawn, and they select and unwrap gifts from the pile in that order — with a twist.

The second person can either keep his gift or trade with the first person. This continues until the last person selects a gift — and has the choice of keeping it or swapping with any of the other guests.

Some people are very serious about this game, which also goes by the name Dirty Santa.

In a quick Internet search, I learned about intricate rule twists and complex strategies, including husband-wife tag teams angling to take home the gift they had brought.

My most disappointing bit of research led me to the lobby of A.O. Fox Memorial Hospital on a recent Friday morning. I'd come to experience the cookie walk I'd read the auxiliary was holding.

As it turned out, I'd come too late.

The fund-raiser started at 9 a.m., but people were lined up at 8:30 for their chance to pay $3.50 and walk along a cookie-laden table, filling up a decorated coffee can with dozens of tiny homemade treats.

Between sales of mittens and poinsettias, the auxiliary members told me about the cookies — molasses and oatmeal chocolate chip, gingersnaps and thumbprints, brownies, M&M treats and many more.

I arrived at noon, half an hour after all the cookies — 153 cans' worth — had been sold.

It was disappointing, but I know my luck may turn.

Who knows? Maybe I'll win a pound of fudge at the next fund-raiser I attend.

Lisa Miller is The Daily Star's community editor. She can be reached at (607) 441-7216 or lmiller@thedailystar.com.