Rabbit Holes

Rabbit Holes        

I love that term because I hear it so often at home being used about myself. Whenever I go blogging or researching some topic family members are inclined to say “Mick has gone down the rabbit hole again”.

So being of an inquisitive nature I went down a laptop rabbit hole to find where this term originated, and I was delighted with my findings.

The origin of the phrase goes back about 150 years to the book Alice in Wonderland written by Lewis Carrol. In the story Alice fell down a deep rabbit hole till she came to Wonderland and what a great magical place this proved for her. Alice grew up in an era where there were very strict rules for young people growing up, when yes often meant no and no meant yes. A certain confusion made it difficult to know right from wrong.

Wonderland introduces her to a whole new world order.

We are introduced to the Mad Hatter which has  a lovely  history . Men were using mercury to reduce the fur in their hats, but this mercury usage also affected their sanity hence the Mad Hatter term

We also have that lovely term of grinning like a Cheshire Cat.The cats here were very happy because it was rich farming country and there was lots of milk available.

It is amazing the number of plays, Disney films, musicals and ballets that have spawned from this very creative piece of writing.

In 2011 we had the musical Woman, centred on Alice Cornwinkle, a stressed-out, writer living in New York City who is overwhelmed by a failing marriage, a strained relationship with her daughter, Chloe, and a stalling career who discovered her own Wonderland.

In 2019 we had Alice by Heart , a musical set during the 1941 London Blitz, where teenager Alice Spencer takes refuge in a Tube station and copes with the trauma of war and her friend Alfred’s tuberculosis by reading her favourite book, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

I am a regular tripper down rabbit holes. I love blogging and writing and get tremendous satisfaction from researching articles, When I am involved in this it is very easy to get lost following up leads generated by some faceless algorithm.

You get a piece of information, and you are promptly asked if you want more. You are led on to a new lead and so down another rabbit hole. The trick is to know when to stop but I haven’t learned to establish boundaries for myself yet.

I have a kind of permanent compulsive inbuilt curiosity about going on a constant learning curve but there are no exit or warning signs on the internet road.

I think that the onset of the internet and latterly the rapid takeover of our everyday lives by AI has led to a new breed of online activity.

You no sooner have keyed in your request for information than you are asked if they can help you further. My inquisitive nature immediately launches me down more information alleyways and highways

It is utterly amazing how quickly you lose track of time and place as you traverse these alleyways getting a lot of useless information while clogging up your brain.

Nowadays there is such a superfluidity of rabbit holes being created thanks to Elon Musk, Tik Tok, Instagram and many more, that it is difficult to avoid being snared.

Up to recently I was a member of Webster’s New Word a day but then it became a page a day and I realised that my brain and mind were being filled with useless brain rotting drivel and so I quit that lexicography activity.

As I advance in years, I am endeavouring to close down some rabbit holes in my life and returning to good old-fashioned reading of newspapers and books and doing some simpler research. This  is difficult with so much of our private life’s work being done online.

Meanwhile last Christmas I was given a present of a DNA set to trace my relations around the world and now I have a multiplicity of little bunny rabbits tunnelling down rabbit holes globally to root out my ancestors across the globe and finding my 31^st to 66^th cousins thrice removed.

Mick O Callaghan

07/05/2026

FÓGRA

THE NATURAL STORYTELLER, MY LATEST COLLECTION OF SHORT STORIES AND POEMS IS NOW ON SALE AT THE FOLLOWING LOCATIONS Kavanaghs (Wexford Road, Arklow), Easons (Gorey), Myles Doyle (Gorey), Springmount Garden Centre, Gala Store (Courtown), Partridges ,Gorey, Tara Vie Hotel (Courtown), Red Books (Wexford), and The Book Centre (Wexford). You can also purchase it online at www.theirishbookshop.com or directly from myself, priced fifteen euros.

Mick O Callaghan.  15/05/2026       www.aramblersblog.com