phrases, sayings, idioms and expressions at

Bunny

Posted by Nita on March 08, 2002

In Reply to: Hefner hopes posted by The Fallen on March 07, 2002

: : : Over here in the UK (well, London at least) the phrase "bunny boiler" to describe a woman who looks like she might rapidly become worryingly obsessive and clingy if ever dated is in fairly wide usage - the link being to the psychotic character played by Glenn Close in "Fatal Attraction".

: : Bunny and rabbit are essentially interchangeable. The only difference I can find is that one, 'bunny' is especially used for young rabbits. On the other hand, we could just be saying " rabbit, rabbit" when we refer to bunny rabits.

: : Rabbit is from probably from the Dutch "robbe" according to one dictionary. The thing is, I'm wondering where "bunny" is from. I'm wondering if it's one of those pig/pork things - i.e. the Normans invade in 1066 and bring all sorts of words for food, etc, and both names for a farm animal or a food survive side-by-side.

: : "Bunny" is also a mining term meaning a great collection of ore without a vein leading to it or from it. There is a village in Nottinghamshire named Bunny, which in contrast to the mining 'bunny' has a great many roads leading to it but not very many leading out which gives it a Bermuda triangle-like quality. I once arrived in Bunny four times while trying to find a road - any road - that would take me to Nottingham. Or maybe it's just my driving.

: : Camel

: Maybe it's just me, but there is no way on God's green earth that I believe the words "bunny" and "rabbit" to be freely interchangeable. I am not ever going to go into a country butcher and ask for two skinned bunnies to make a bunny pie - any more than, in the unlikely event that I am ever invited to party with Hugh Hefner, I would manfully try to inveigle a rabbit girl to sit on my lap.

: Bunny is interchangeable with rabbit only if the speaker, or the addressee is under the age of eight. Well, at least that's my theory.

Bunnies - refers to it's bun according to my dictionary. Looking further I discovered bun (like bum) to mean "One of the buttocks", "Dialectal, hind part of a rabbit or squirrel, from Scottish Gaelic, stump, bottom, from Old Irish". So a bunny is a play on the cotton tail of the rabbit, again usually young and usually a pet.

© 1997 – 2024 Phrases.org.uk. All rights reserved.