# To rabbit



## polaire

I believe that "rabbiting" is a uniquely BE term.  What does it mean?  Do the French have an equivalent?  


". . .Langdon starts *rabbiting* about pentacles and pagans and God knows what."

Anthony Lane's review of _The Da Vinci Code_ in _The New Yorker_.  (Lane is English)

To talk enthusiastically?  To "breed" words like rabbits, e.g., to speak extremely volubly?  I have no idea what he means.


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## sioban

I think that "rabbiting" is an informal equivalent of chattering. In french we could say "jacasser".


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## emma42

"Rabbiting" means to talk a lot, talk on and on - often at quite a fast speed. We also have "rabbiting on".

*Ooh, doesn't that Sheila rabbit on!*

*Will you stop rabbiting! I can't hear myself think.*

There was a hit novelty pop song called "rabbit" by the English duo, Chas and Dave (this was in the 1970s) about this very verb.

"All you ever do is rabbit. Why don't you give it a rest?"

I do not know whether this verb is in common usage in Northern England, but it is in parts of the south/London.


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## polaire

sioban said:
			
		

> I think that "rabbiting" is an informal equivalent of chattering. In french we could say "jacasser".



Thank you.  Colorful words.  

In the Northeast United States people sometimes use BE, e.g., "He's _called_ ___;It's _meant_ to be ____."  "Rabbiting" is not a term I've ever heard.


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## polaire

emma42 said:
			
		

> "Rabbiting" means to talk a lot, talk on and on - often at quite a fast speed. We also have "rabbiting on".
> 
> *Ooh, doesn't that Sheila rabbit on!*
> 
> *Will you stop rabbiting! I can't hear myself think.*
> 
> There was a hit novelty pop song called "rabbit" by the English duo, Chas and Dave (this was in the 1970s) about this very verb.
> 
> "All you ever do is rabbit. Why don't you give it a rest?"
> 
> I do not know whether this verb is in common usage in Northern England, but it is in parts of the south/London.



Very interesting.  Thanks.


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## emma42

I like "jacasser".  Merci.

I've just had a thought;  I think "rabbiting" is onomatopoeiac.  If you say, "rabbit, rabbit, rabbit" etc as fast as you can, it becomes, "rabbit, rabbit, babababababa" etc and sounds like someone just jabbering nonsense.  It does when I do it, anyway!  Try it and see what you think.


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## polaire

emma42 said:
			
		

> I like "jacasser".  Merci.
> 
> I've just had a thought;  I think "rabbiting" is onomatopoeiac.  If you say, "rabbit, rabbit, rabbit" etc as fast as you can, it becomes, "rabbit, rabbit, babababababa" etc and sounds like someone just jabbering nonsense.  It does when I do it, anyway!  Try it and see what you think.


I don't know if the person who posted the "cahin-caha" thread will see this, but yesterday I couldn't help thinking of the silly song about the Easter Bunny:

"Hippety hoppety Easter's on its way."  That mimics the sound of a rabbit hopping, obviously.


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## emma42

That's lovely, polaire!  But have you tried "rabbitting" yet?  I want to know if you think it's onomatopoeiac (now you have made me type that word again!)


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## polaire

emma42 said:
			
		

> I like "jacasser".  Merci.
> 
> I've just had a thought;  I think "rabbiting" is onomatopoeiac.  If you say, "rabbit, rabbit, rabbit" etc as fast as you can, it becomes, "rabbit, rabbit, *babababababa" etc and sounds like someone just jabbering nonsense.*  It does when I do it, anyway!  Try it and see what you think.


You probably know that that sound apparently was the source of the word "barbarian."


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## polaire

emma42 said:
			
		

> That's lovely, polaire!  But have you tried "rabbitting" yet?  I want to know if you think it's onomatopoeiac (now you have made me type that word again!)



I can definitely see (rather hear) that, Emma42. 

Polaire.


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## Cath.S.

Les Grecs avaient leurs Barbares, les Britanniques ont leurs _rabbits_, et les Français ont leurs volatiles. Pas de b dans ce son-là, plutôt des k et des s. 
_Jacasser_, l'excellente suggestion de Sioban, désigne d'abord le bavardage incessant et criard d'oiseaux comme la pie.


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## se16teddy

emma42 said:
			
		

> I've just had a thought; I think "rabbiting" is onomatopoeiac. If you say, "rabbit, rabbit, rabbit" etc as fast as you can, it becomes, "rabbit, rabbit, babababababa" etc and sounds like someone just jabbering nonsense. It does when I do it, anyway! Try it and see what you think.


 
The popular and conventional explanation of the term 'rabbit' meaning 'talk' is that it is (Cockney) rhyming slang: 'talk' became 'rabbit and pork' which became 'rabbit'. However, I don't find this explanation entirely convincing. I can see why collocations 'dog and bone', 'butcher's hook', 'Berkshire hunt' etc were used, but why 'rabbit and pork'? Why not 'chicken and pork'? 
http://www.surefire.uk.com/rabbitnpork.htm

And let's not divert this thread to a general discussion of rhyming slang: there already is one. http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=59753&highlight=cockney+rhyming+slang


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## emma42

Good point, se16teddy.  Perhaps "rabbit and pork" because those were really good sellers when the term was coming into usage.  Was, perhaps, rabbit cheaper than chicken?   Also, perhaps because "rabbit" has a more apt and satisfying sound for the meaning?

"


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## polaire

sioban said:
			
		

> I think that "rabbiting" is an informal equivalent of chattering. In french we could say "jacasser".


The WR dico gives "to rattle on" as one of the definitions for "jacasser."  American English does have that verb.   Par exemple,

"Why is he rattling on about that?"


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## emma42

Yes, I would say "rattling on" is a near synonym of "rabbit", but rabbit has the distinction of not _having_ to have a preposition.  One can "rabbit on" and one can merely "rabbit"!


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## polaire

emma42 said:
			
		

> Yes, I would say "rattling on" is a near synonym of "rabbit", but rabbit has the distinction of not _having_ to have a preposition.  One can "rabbit on" and one can merely "rabbit"!


It was interesting to see Anthony Lane, who, after all, was writing for an American magazine, use such quintessentially British expressions.  They were interesting.

Incidentally, sometimes I use the term "Anglo-English" instead of "British English" because I read somewhere that some people in the UK consider the idea of "Britain" to be offensive or ridiculous; there's no such thing, Britain is just a collection of conquered peoples, not a unified culture, etc. --  That was the argument.   I don't know if "Anglo-English" is any better, but that's why I do it, especially if I think a usage is strictly English.


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## emma42

Polaire, why not open a new thread on British English/Anglo English?  I bet there will be many interesting views.


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## Malice

egueule said:
			
		

> _Jacasser_, l'excellente suggestion de Sioban, désigne d'abord le bavardage incessant et criard d'oiseaux comme la pie.



And this is why I'd go for déblatérer instead. I think it conveys the meaning of the endless flow of words, but I'm afraid it sort of implies that you tell rubbish.
What do you think ?


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## pieanne

"Déblatérer" doesn't seem correct to me here. It means to speak at length *against* something.
How about "se lance dans de longues tirades à propos de ..."?


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## emma42

Mais, pieanne, c'est assez longue, cette phrase-là.  J'ésperais que "déblatérer" serait le mot juste à cause de ce "bla" (je cherche toujours l'onomatopée!), mais il semble que ça n'aille pas!


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## Malice

I didn't kow the correct meaning of the world then (I would use it for instance to say Il déblatérait des conneries). Thanks pieanne !


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## pieanne

Eh oui, je sais que c'est long...
Mais "déblatérer" signifie "dire du mal de"...
Il y a aussi "... se lance dans un dicours sans fin"/"n'arrête pas de discourir", "délire", aussi peut-être?


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## englishman

polaire said:
			
		

> It was interesting to see Anthony Lane, who, after all, was writing for an American magazine, use such quintessentially British expressions. They were interesting.
> 
> Incidentally, sometimes I use the term "Anglo-English" instead of "British English" because I read somewhere that some people in the UK consider the idea of "Britain" to be offensive or ridiculous; there's no such thing, Britain is just a collection of conquered peoples, not a unified culture, etc. -- That was the argument.  I don't know if "Anglo-English" is any better, but that's why I do it, especially if I think a usage is strictly English.


"Anglo-English" is more accurate than "British-English" but it's not a term in general use. 

In addition, given the wide variations even among "Anglo-English" (e.g. London, Geordie, Bristol, Mancunian, Notts, Liverpudlian, Brum, each of which have slightly/greatly different vocabulary and pronunciation) the term "Anglo-English" can really only make sense if used to refer to the "international English" that a foreigner will encounter i.e. the kind of English that you're likely to hear on the BBC, and exemplified, in general, by the English of SE England.

The English that you will hear in Wales, Scotland, and N. Ireland can be very different again from all of these, and because of this, the term "British English" is, IMHO, pretty much meaningless. And I haven't even addressed the question of melanges such as Pakistani-English, the W.Indian argot spoken in some inner cities, and so on.


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## polaire

englishman said:
			
		

> "Anglo-English" is more accurate than "British-English" but it's not a term in general use.
> 
> In addition, given the wide variations even among "Anglo-English" (e.g. London, Geordie, Bristol, Mancunian, Notts, Liverpudlian, Brum, each of which have slightly/greatly different vocabulary and pronunciation) the term "Anglo-English" can really only make sense if used to refer to the "international English" that a foreigner will encounter i.e. the kind of English that you're likely to hear on the BBC, and exemplified, in general, by the English of SE England.
> 
> The English that you will hear in Wales, Scotland, and N. Ireland can be very different again from all of these, and because of this, the term "British English" is, IMHO, pretty much meaningless. And I haven't even addressed the question of melanges such as Pakistani-English, the W.Indian argot spoken in some inner cities, and so on.


Wow.  Interesting, but so complicated.  Thanks for the comment.


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## polaire

englishman said:
			
		

> "Anglo-English" is more accurate than "British-English" but it's not a term in general use.
> 
> In addition, given the wide variations even among "Anglo-English" (e.g. London, Geordie, Bristol, Mancunian, Notts, Liverpudlian, Brum, each of which have slightly/greatly different vocabulary and pronunciation) the term "Anglo-English" can really only make sense if used to refer to the "international English" that a foreigner will encounter i.e. *the kind of English that you're likely to hear on the BBC, and exemplified, in general, by the English of SE England.*
> 
> The English that you will hear in Wales, Scotland, and N. Ireland can be very different again from all of these, and because of this, the term "British English" is, IMHO, pretty much meaningless. And I haven't even addressed the question of melanges such as Pakistani-English, the W.Indian argot spoken in some inner cities, and so on.


This is "Received Pronunciation" aka [also known as] "RP"?  Is "Estuary English" the same thing?


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## Aupick

Yes, pretty much. Since so few people actually speak RP these days, and it's such a loaded term/concept, linguists tend to talk about Estuary English instead to describe "that" quasi-standard accent that you find on the BBC and so on. It's not so "posh" as RP but shares many characteristics and is about as neutral as you can get for a British accent these days. (And even then it's not very neutral, especially to a Northerner like me.)


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## polaire

Aupick said:
			
		

> Yes, pretty much. Since so few people actually speak RP these days, and it's such a loaded term/concept, linguists tend to talk about Estuary English instead to describe "that" quasi-standard accent that you find on the BBC and so on. It's not so "posh" as RP but shares many characteristics and is about as neutral as you can get for a British accent these days. (And even then it's not very neutral, especially to a Northerner like me.)


Who speaks RP?  The Queen?  The members of the Royal Shakespeare Company? 

Hugh Grant?
Kenneth Branagh?
Ralph Fiennes?
Antony Hopkins?

I'm joking -- I don't expect you to know, and besides I guess it would depend on the role.  But these are the British actors with whom I'm most familiar from the movies.


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## emma42

Off-topic, chaps.  Go on, open a new thread.  It would be really interesting.


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## Cath.S.

Just in case anybody' s interested, as this is _not _a post about RP,  , a word I often use to mean rabbit on is _blablater_. I don't think it is in any dictionary, but quite a few people use it. 

_Et ça blablate, et ça blablate ! _


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## polaire

egueule said:
			
		

> Just in case anybody' s interested, as this is _not _a post about RP,  , a word I often use to mean rabbit on is _blablater_. I don't think it is in any dictionary, but quite a few people use it.
> 
> _Et ça blablate, et ça blablate ! _



Good one.


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## KaRiNe_Fr

egueule said:
			
		

> _Et ça blablate, et ça blablate ! _


Not only few people. I know a bunch of friends saying this not-a-word with me! 
Maybe it's from the south of France?


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## sioban

No, we also use it in the north (at least in my region)


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## Cath.S.

Salut Karine, _quite a few people_ veut dire en fait pas mal, et non peu de gens.
Je veux bien croire que cette expression est employée dans la France entière. Quant aux autres pays de la francophonie, je n'en sais rien.


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## KaRiNe_Fr

egueule said:
			
		

> Salut Karine, _quite a few people_ veut dire en fait pas mal, et non peu de gens.
> Je veux bien croire que cette expression est employée dans la France entière. Quant aux autres pays de la francophonie, je n'en sais rien.


Horreur ! J'ai toujours cru le contraire !  
Merci. 
(l'académie songe à faire entrer le mot dans le dictionnaire en 2067  )


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