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I've just read a conversation on Facebook:

Boy: You should be a model!

Girl: It's all you tab!

What does she mean in the above context?

Update: I think i found the right answer, thanks @Janus Bahs Jacquet

That's all you talk/think about

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  • 1
    It’s impossible to tell.
    – Jim
    Commented May 3, 2017 at 4:57
  • 4
    No, I think Jim meant to say it's "impossible to know" what the message means without context, i.e. the background story.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented May 3, 2017 at 6:27
  • urbandictionary.com/define.php?defid=1794954&term=TAB scroll down, past the first definition
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented May 3, 2017 at 6:30
  • 5
    Well how about giving the context? What were the two talking about? And if you don't understand, let me assure you that type of slang is not vitally important to know or learn. But my guess is that TAB is short for *Trendy Asian B**** h. Thanks goes to Urban Dictionary.
    – Mari-Lou A
    Commented May 3, 2017 at 6:32
  • 3
    My guess (but it is absolutely nothing but a guess) is that it could mean “That's all you talk/think about”. I can think of no other meaning of tab that would make any sense here. Commented May 3, 2017 at 6:34

1 Answer 1

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My guess is that it is a reference to the:

tabby cat

which has an etymology linking it to clothes (Wikipedia):

The English term tabby originates from the translation of the French phrase "striped silk taffeta", the root of which is tabis, meaning "a rich watered silk." This can be further traced to the Middle French atabis (14th century), which stemmed from the Arabic term attabiya. This word is a reference to the neighborhood in Baghdad, Attabiy (named for Prince Attab of the Umayyad Caliphate), where such silk cloth was first made. Tabby is also comparable to the Spanish word ataviar, which means "to decorate or to dress or wear" and often implies luxurious clothing.

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  • What does a tabby cat have to do with being a model? I doubt that any modern person is aware of this etymology, or that they would use the word in the original sense.
    – Barmar
    Commented May 3, 2017 at 18:28
  • With that scarcity of context in the original question, tabby cat is no worse answer than any other. At least it has an elaborate explanation. :-) Commented May 18, 2017 at 13:30

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