Rabbits

[paulalouise]

"Thank your Mum for the Rabbits" Apparently it orginates from Austrailia, but what does it mean?

[firefly]

Would it have anything to do with the large amounts of myximotis in Australia?

[WaldoMcFroog]

I'm not entirely sure how it would fit in but my guess would be something to do with the fact that rabbits aren't indigenous to Oz. They were brought over from Europe and quickly became a huge problems, breeding as they do like, er... rabbits. Can you contextualise the saying? Is it a good thing or a bad thing to say to someone?

[incitatus]

I have heard this one. I was told that its a similar sense to a passenger on the Titanic saying "send more icebergs". And it does come from the rabbit plague. This was rumoured to have started from a childs pregnant pet. It didnt, a guy called Thomas Austin introduced the damn things in 1859.

[shrimp]

Yes. Thomas Austin was an english migrant, and in the early days the english were responsible for the introduction of a number of "vermin" in an attempt to replicate their social lifestyle from the old country, Foxes, rabbits, and various fish including the trout were all introduced, and now considered in many circles as vermin. Rabbits to the the extent that large scale disease programs were introduced to get rid of them, and trout to the extent that they have now put the existence of many species of native Australian fish in great jeopardy. The upshot is, "thank your mother for the rabbits" is a disparaging remark, similar to "thanks for nothing", and reflects the attitude of a lot of Australians about the early english basically stuffing up the country.