Harebrained

[Dr. Goodword]

• harebrained •

Pronunciation: heyr-braynd • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Adjective

Meaning: 1. Having the brain of a rabbit, foolish, stupid (people). 2. Outlandishly foolish, stupid, non sequitur (anything else).

Notes: Since the 16th century English speakers have been misspelling this word hair-brained, so this phenomenon is not new. However, let's stamp it out in the 21st century and prove that we are not harebrains. Which reminds me, this adjective is derived from the personal noun, a harebrain, which means "a dumb bunny". (Boy, are we tough on rabbits!) The Oxford Dictionary says that harebrainness is archaic but harebranedness doesn't strike me as such a harebrained idea. Does it you? Hyphenate it (hare-brained)? What's to hyphenate?

In Play: The problem, of course, is that Americans now call hares rabbits or bunnies. Harebrained, however, remains harebrained: "I think my harebrained mechanic must have topped off my radiator with coke and drunk a quart of antifreeze; the car still runs hot and I just found him curled up asleep in the trunk." Moreover, the meaning has expanded to include anything that someone with a hare's brain might do: "Rabbit for Easter dinner? What kind of harebrained idea is that?"

Word History: Did you ever wonder why one of the most popular rabbit dishes is called hasenpfeffer instead of hares 'n pfeffer? Well, that is the sort of question linguists stew over. In German "hare" is Hase (Pfeffer is "pepper"). The German and English words are related but how do we explain the R-S flip? In fact, the sounds [s] and [r] occasionally replace each other in Indo-European languages, especially Latin. We are not sure why but in this case it happened in English. (Today we thank the sparkling mind of Larry Brady, the Stargazer of the Agora, for a pretty Good Word to play with.)

[gailr]

"Rabbit for Easter dinner? What kind of harebrained idea is that?"

Well, how about Welsh Rabbit?
gailr
who thinks this makes far more sense, if you think about it, than the traditional ham...

[Bailey]

I could never understand the ham thing,

mark rarebit Bailey

[Perry]

Since the Last Supper was a Passover Seder, I recommend leg of lamb.

Interesting explanation of the Welsh Rarebit in yoiur link Gail.

[Bailey]

I always thought that ham was a Roman Catholic institution, they do have a history of thumbing their noses at Jews forgetting their own hero [actually heroine as they don't prefer the son but the mother] was one. I'll skip the lamb, as do most modern Jews who usually eat chicken, I hear. There are few animal sacrifices in a world where animal "rights" activists have gone wild. Turkey is a good spring meal as well.

mark traditionally-it's-both-rarebit-and-rabbit Bailey

[Bailey]

The Bartleby explanation is only partly true, it doesn't explain the origins: In England all the "game " belongs to the King, the poor were expected to starve, quietly. If a man he was caught with a rabbit he was imprisoned. So they ate cheese and called it Welsh rabbit, which became rarebit, as an attempt to gentrify the by-then slur.

mark too-old-to-eat-much-cheese Bailey

Welsh Rarebit Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2003





2 tablespoons unsalted butter
2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
1/2 cup porter beer
3/4 cup heavy cream
6 ounces (approximately 1 1/2 cups) shredded Cheddar
2 drops hot sauce
4 slices toasted rye bread

In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt the butter and whisk in the flour. Cook, whisking constantly for 2 to 3 minutes, being careful not to brown the flour. Whisk in mustard, Worcestershire sauce, salt, and pepper until smooth. Add beer and whisk to combine. Pour in cream and whisk until well combined and smooth. Gradually add cheese, stirring constantly, until cheese melts and sauce is smooth; this will take 4 to 5 minutes. Add hot sauce. Pour over toast and serve immediately.

you can top this before baking with a tomato slice and/or a fried egg.

[Perry]

Glad to see that kosher salt is called for.

As for chicken vs. lamb. It isn't so much to do with sacrificial practices as to do with price.

[Dr. Goodword]

We received a couple of responses to harebrained today claiming that hares and rabbits are different animals: rabbits are born helpless, hares are not, hares have split lips, longer ears and legs, etc.

I actually knew that in some areas the distinction is made but it isn't in areas where I have lived. Texas has rabbits and jackrabbits (whose description fits that of a hare) but both are called rabbits. What do the rest of you think? Do you distinguish between the two? If so, where are you from? Do Australians make this distinction?

[Bailey]

ooooh, don't forget Bunnies, are they rabbits too?

mark hair-lipped Bailey

[Bailey]

Glad to see that kosher salt is called for.

I knew that the lamb to chicken shift wasn't related to the sacrifices, I was just wondering what the Jews are doing these days with all their 'sins' hanging about without absolution?
Glad Perry read the whole recipe.

mark just-copied-and-pasted-didn't-read-it Bailey

[Perry]

We received a couple of responses to harebrained today claiming that hares and rabbits are different animals: rabbits are born helpless, hares are not, hares have split lips, longer ears and legs, etc.

I actually knew that in some areas the distinction is made but it isn't in areas where I have lived. Texas has rabbits and jackrabbits (whose description fits that of a hare) but both are called rabbits. What do the rest of you think? Do you distinguish between the two? If so, where are you from? Do Australians make this distinction?

I didn't used to differentiate, until confronted with the two different terms in Hebrew. ארנבת (arnevet) or ארנבון (arnevon) is rabbit, and שפן (shafan) is hare. The rabbit is the traditional bunny, i.e. long rabbit ears, etc. The hare has much shorter ears.

Perry not-a-zoologist-but-this-is-what-I-have-to-offer-on-the-subject Dror

[Perry]

I was just wondering what the Jews are doing these days with all their 'sins' hanging about without absolution?

That is what Yom Kippur is for. Anyway, the lamb sacrificed on Passover, in the old days, was a feast and thanks offering, not a sin offering.

[sluggo]

We received a couple of responses to harebrained today claiming that hares and rabbits are different animals: rabbits are born helpless, hares are not, hares have split lips, longer ears and legs, etc.

I actually knew that in some areas the distinction is made but it isn't in areas where I have lived. Texas has rabbits and jackrabbits (whose description fits that of a hare) but both are called rabbits. What do the rest of you think? Do you distinguish between the two? If so, where are you from? Do Australians make this distinction?

I've always known hares and rabbits as similar but distinct creatures in the same way as alligators/crocodiles, turtles/tortoises, etc. I wasn't gonna quibble with the good Doctor though

Nobody mentioned jackalopes...?

[gailr]

Mounted jackalope skulls were marketed to the credulous and the amused when I lived in South Dakota. I was also enchanted to see a jackalope glyph appearing in your link; I've never encountered that symbol before.

Personally, I tend to think of rabbits as domesticated and hares as wild; this is hardly scientific, though.

If you're looking for appropriate joints, not all rabbetsare ordered by the brace.

gailr
who did once send a newbie for the rabbet stretchers...

[Perry]

I just loved the Jackalopes in Art section, Sluggo!