# "Going down a rabbit hole" - what does that mean to you?

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-down-a-rabbit-hole-what-does-that-mean-to-you/930517>\
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion\
**Created:** [January 14, 2021, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-down-a-rabbit-hole-what-does-that-mean-to-you/930517 "2021-01-14T14:27:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 3

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**Author:** ![Spice\_Weasel](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spice_weasel/32/5435_2.png) [@Spice\_Weasel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spice_Weasel)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-down-a-rabbit-hole-what-does-that-mean-to-you/930517/41 "2021-01-21T03:04:35Z")

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> [@MustangSal](#):
>
> Going down a rabbit hole means to get on the internet, looking for an answer about military protocol, 6 hours later you have signed up for a message board and are discussing curse words with strangers.

That’s the Dope in a nutshell. Welcome!

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**Author:** ![garygnu](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/garygnu/32/2924_2.png) [@garygnu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/garygnu)\
**Post date:** [January 21, 2021, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/going-down-a-rabbit-hole-what-does-that-mean-to-you/930517/42 "2021-01-21T17:53:35Z")

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I can understand the “unknowingly lost in a fantasy” meaning, but I wouldn’t use it that way myself. I see it most often as the “stuck in a research chain.”

I, myself, use it more often when discussing movies (etc) to refer the threshold moment where the protagonist(s) are about to hit that point of no return and truly begin their adventure in a different world. I realize that’s kind of literal, but I talk about movies a lot.

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