{"id":2573,"date":"2022-03-10T23:20:31","date_gmt":"2022-03-10T23:20:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/?p=2573"},"modified":"2022-03-10T23:20:31","modified_gmt":"2022-03-10T23:20:31","slug":"rabbit-hole-meaning","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/rabbit-hole-meaning\/","title":{"rendered":"Rabbit Hole - Meaning, Origin and Usage"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Are you looking for a way to tell someone not to waste their time looking into finding out information they can\u2019t control? If so, you could ask them to stop looking down the \u201c<em>rabbit hole<\/em>.\u201d This post unpacks the meaning and origin of this phrase.<\/p>\n<h2>Meaning<\/h2>\n<p><strong>The \u201crabbit hole\u201d in \u201c<em>Alice in Wonderland<\/em>\u201d is a portal to another world. Alice falls through it, and while she does, she\u2019s weightless and sees imagery around her. Over the last few decades, we\u2019ve seen people using the term \u201c<em>rabbit hole<\/em>\u201d to describe a series of information they receive on an obscure, esoteric, or taboo topic.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Typically, the saying applies to conspiracy theories, such as 9\/11. The expression also appears in the 21000 movies, \u201c<em>The Matrix<\/em>,\u201d where Morpheus, played by Lawrence Fishburne, asks Neo, played by Keanu Reeves, to \u201c<em>take the red pill,\u201d<\/em> and he will show him \u201c<em>how deep the rabbit hole goes<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Conspiracy theorists used this scene and the movie as the basis for forming the \u201c<em>red pill<\/em>\u201d philosophy dividing Americans and society at large.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The term \u201c<em>rabbit hole<\/em>\u201d can also mean going somewhere mentally and drifting away from consciousness. It can also mean entering a problematic or chaotic situation or a complex, challenging, or confusing journey. The term can also apply to being drawn into a strange scenario or a weird situation where you find it difficult to disengage from what\u2019s happening around you.<\/strong><\/p>\n<h2>Example Usage<\/h2>\n<p>\u201cHere, Neo, take the red pill, and I\u2019ll show you how deep the <em>rabbit hole<\/em> goes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLet\u2019s not go down that <em>rabbit hole<\/em> right now. I don\u2019t have the time to sit here for four hours while you tell me about the complexities of offshore capital markets and how the rich avoid taxes.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat do you mean the leaders of the world are some giant cabal? Let\u2019s not start jumping down the <em>rabbit hole <\/em>without any real evidence.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHow deep the <em>rabbit hole<\/em> goes? No one knows.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI just spent 6-hours on YouTube going down some conspiracy theory <em>rabbit hole<\/em>, and I think my mind melted.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-full wp-image-2574\" src=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Rabbit-Hole-2.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"164\" height=\"89\" \/> <img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-2575\" src=\"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/03\/Rabbit-Hole.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"163\" height=\"122\" \/><\/p>\n<h2>Origin<\/h2>\n<p>The origin of the saying, \u201c<em>rabbit hole<\/em>,\u201d comes from the 1865 classic novel by <em>Lewis Carroll<\/em>, \u201c<em>Alice\u2019s Adventures in Wonderland<\/em>.\u201d Aka, \u201c<em>Alice in Wonderland<\/em>,\u201d the book is one of the most revered in western history, and many kids grew up reading the book or watching the movie.<\/p>\n<p>During the story, Alice falls down a rabbit hole when out in the forest and finds herself transported to Wonderland. Therefore, the rabbit hole in the story is a portal to another dimension where Alice meets friends and has an adventure.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"IDIOM: GO DOWN THE RABBIT HOLE\" width=\"512\" height=\"288\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/VEeZVOourV0?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h2>Phrases Similar to Rabbit Hole<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Conspiracy theory.<\/li>\n<li>Portal.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Phrases Opposite to Rabbit Hole<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Plain view.<\/li>\n<li>Nothing to hide.<\/li>\n<li>Easy to understand.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>What is the Correct Saying?<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Rabbit hole.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>Ways People May Say Rabbit Hole Incorrectly<\/h2>\n<p>The phrase has nothing to do with rabbit holes or rabbits. The saying comes from the classic novel \u201c<em>Alice in Wonderland<\/em>,\u201d where the rabbit hole was a gateway to a mystical realm beyond human comprehension.<\/p>\n<h2>Acceptable Ways to Phrase Rabbit Hole<\/h2>\n<p>You can use the saying \u201c<em>rabbit hole<\/em>\u201d when you\u2019re trying to describe an advanced topic that you have little knowledge of.<\/p>\n<p>For instance, if someone asks you about geopolitics and inflation, you could say that you don\u2019t want them to \u201c<em>take you down that rabbit hole<\/em>\u201d because you have no idea what they are talking about and how it applies to your situation.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019s a common phrase with conspiracy theorists used to describe somewhat unbelievable concepts that can leave you feeling confused and overwhelmed at what you find.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p class=\"mb-2\">Are you looking for a way to tell someone not to waste their time looking into finding out information they can\u2019t control? If so, you could ask them to stop looking down the \u201crabbit hole.\u201d This post unpacks the meaning and origin of this phrase. Meaning The \u201crabbit hole\u201d in \u201cAlice in Wonderland\u201d is a [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2573"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2573"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2573\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2705,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2573\/revisions\/2705"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2573"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2573"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/english-grammar-lessons.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2573"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}