Rabbit, Rabbit!

In London, England, the term ‘rabbit’ refers to ‘talk’. They will say that so-and-so has lots of rabbit meaning that he talks a lot.

Some years ago a popular singing duo (Chas and Dave) had a song called ‘Rabbit, Rabbit’ that was about a person who talked a lot.

Where did this expression come from? I have no idea. It doesn’t, as far as I know, follow the normal pattern of Cockney rhyming slang like ‘trouble and strife’ – wife, ‘plates of meat’ – feet, ‘apples and pears’ – stairs, and so on.

Perhaps somebody will enlighten me about that.

In the last ‘Blog’ I said that rabbits are good. They don’t smell bad; they are quiet so they don’t mess with other people’s lives.

My ‘pets’ are similar, they escape—they die. Why? They are fish. The only thing that might disturb the neighbours is the sound of the water in the tank but even that is very quiet.

Did you know that all fish are called ‘Bob’?

Also in the last ‘Blog’ I said that I dislike cats and dogs. This is a very sensitive issue because the inference is that I must be cruel. That is very far from the truth.

I also dislike senseless cruelty to any living thing. Not liking cats and dogs does not make me amoral or evil in the slightest but the suggestion that is read into that is mostly negative.

People like to read negatives, they like to infer worst case in every scenario. Does it make them feel better? Superior, perhaps.

Here’s an example: a short while ago I read an article on some, now forgotten, web page. The contents were so sad. The whole thing came about because of a poor command of English; I am often told that I am too fussy with language but it is with language that we communicate our ideas. If it is ambiguous or poorly written then we do not convey what is in our minds accurately.

In this case the story was of a girl whose age was not mentioned and is, in any event, irrelevant. She had posted something on ‘Facebook’ that everyone associated with her found offensive. To the point that she committed suicide when everyone ‘unfriended’ her. A note left behind said, clearly, that she did not understand why everyone suddenly hated her, they refused to speak to her or even, it seems, acknowledge her existence.

What did she write? She commented, “I hate Jesus.”

Simple. Nothing complex there, a clear message but one that is ambiguous.

All her friends are deeply religious and yet without that charity of heart that would allow them to question what she had written. A simple query would have resolved the issue and saved a life.

She was referring to a young man at school who was making her life miserable. He was called ‘Jesus’ (Hay-zoos).

How readily we hate. How easily we fall into the trap of wanting to believe the worst of people who do not conform to our idea of ‘good’ or ‘normal’.

Say, “I hate Chrysanthemums!” and you are smiled at. Others will nod and some may agree.

Say, “I dislike cats and dogs,” and you get hate mail.

Now see what happen if you say, “I hate Jesus!”