Talk:bunny

Etymology

I remember a PBS science show in the late 90's that mentioned that originally Bunny was a species of rabbit which turns out never actually existed...the bunny rabbit, like the cottontail rabbit. I'm curious if there's any fact to this? If so it would be good to see in an etymology section. 12.154.97.242 19:36, 14 June 2011 (UTC)

I think you might have misunderstood the PBS message in the 90s. Cottontail rabbits do exist. Bunny, a colloquial name for a rabbit, is the diminutive of bun, which was a Scottish pet name for a rabbit. Before bun was used in Scotland to mean rabbit, it meant squirrel (around 500 years ago or more). There was never a species of rabbit called the bunny rabbit, any rabbit is a bunny rabbit (to a child or someone who like rabbits). It’s just like kitty cats. There is no species of cat called a kitty cat, any cat is a kitty cat to a child or to someone who like cats. Also moo cows and tweety birds. —Stephen ^(Talk) 19:50, 14 June 2011 (UTC)

Squirrel?

Webster 1913 says "a pet name for a rabbit or a squirrel". Equinox ◑ 15:52, 6 November 2011 (UTC)

e.g. 1863, Jacob Abbott, The Jonas Stories: Jonas on a farm in summer (page 173): "Josey broke off some little pieces from the crust of bread, which he was holding in his hand, and gently tossed them down towards the squirrel. Bunny was very timid and suspicious; but presently he crept up near to one of them..." Equinox ◑ 23:58, 20 February 2016 (UTC)

RFV discussion: December 2015–February 2016

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bunny

Resembling a bun. Equinox ◑ 20:39, 3 December 2015 (UTC)

• For that sense, I would expect bunnish or bunlike, but not bunny. ‑‑ Eiríkr Útlendi │^{Tala við mig} 23:43, 3 December 2015 (UTC)

It's hard to search for. So far I've only found this, which just seems to be a cute turn of phrase made up for an ad. Chuck Entz (talk) 03:45, 4 December 2015 (UTC)

I found two more:

Also, a somewhat iffy recipe for "Bunny Burgers from Cooked Vegetables" (which I THINK refers to the fact that the burgers are eaten on burger buns, but might mean that they are from vegetables, and hence rabbit food) in This. Kiwima (talk) 02:24, 6 December 2015 (UTC)

If we allow citations of the comparative form, this seems to be attested: one citation on Citations:bunnier and two above. It's rare. And jocular? - -sche (discuss) 05:46, 2 February 2016 (UTC)

• I do think we should count citations of the comparative, just as we would count citations of the plural form of a noun to count for the lemma. RFV passed, and I'll add in the context labels that -sche suggested. —Μετάknowledge^{discuss/deeds} 08:33, 14 February 2016 (UTC)