Rabbit Trail

[Puzzled]

I recently heard someone use the idiom, "go down a rabbit trail", which I assume means go down the wrong path. I have not been able to find a resource that refers to this phrase, however. Is this a recognized idiom, and if so, what does it mean?

[Casiopea]

Rabbit trails go here, there, and everywhere, and pretty much tend to lead nowhere. (Have you ever watched a dog sniff out a rabbit trail? It wanders in small then wider circles, around and around, feverishly looking for the rabbit - literally, a meal and, figuratively, the point of one's argument.) No one knows what's at the end of a rabbit trail (the point of one's argument). Is there even an end to it? It's a confusing maze of pointless leads. In short, a rabbit trail leads (us) nowhere. It serves only to confuse the prey/the reader. It keeps them preoccupied and confused.

[Richard2]

Rabbit Trails is also an old Southern USA expression to describe people who talk that way and can't be followed. In Psychiatry it is referred to as Tangential or Loose Speech.