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I'm sure there's a word for this that I've forgotten. I'm looking for an English term for something that somebody likes to rant about frequently. The closest I can come is "hobby horse" but it isn't specific enough: it means something that somebody likes to talk about a lot, rather than specifically rant.

Something that could work well in the sentence "I'll never quit this [word here]" because I like to rant about it. For hobby horse I had a similar sentence in mind: "I'll never get off this hobby horse" but of course "get off" only works because of the word "horse".

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    You could say 'I will never quit this rant', in which you are not referring to ranting on a variety of topics, but you are referring to a particular favourite topic which has become one, long continuous rant.
    – Nigel J
    Oct 23, 2018 at 0:49
  • I think the problem here is that the speaker is unlikely to identify their own behaviour as ranting [otherwise the obvious solution would be "I'll never quit this rant"]. That being the case, the most likely "soft" description would actually be "hobby horse". And you can quit a hobby horse, in the sense of leaving it, or walking away from it.
    – Chappo Hasn't Forgotten Monica
    Oct 23, 2018 at 1:38
  • "bugaboo" -----
    – Greg Lee
    Oct 23, 2018 at 17:08
  • to rant about something is negative. To talk about something all the time is not necessarily negative. Do you really mean rant??
    – Lambie
    Oct 23, 2018 at 18:37

4 Answers 4

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"I'll never quit this crusade."

[Merriam-Webster]

2 : a remedial enterprise undertaken with zeal and enthusiasm
// a crusade against drunk driving

Of course, crusades (as with any other noun I can think of) can be "waged" in any number of ways, but talking about a cause at length is certainly common.

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Pet peeve

minor annoyance that an individual identifies as particularly irritating to them, to a greater degree than would be expected based on the experience of others.

His pet peeve was drivers who don't use their blinkers.

tirade

a prolonged outburst of bitter, outspoken denunciation

He often held tirades about unsanitary practices.

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  • Thanks for the suggestion. I think that phrase doesn't fully work because it doesn't imply liking to talk about it (somebody could privately hold a pet peeve, I think). I updated my question with a suggested sentence to contain it.
    – Stephen
    Oct 22, 2018 at 23:08
  • Well, then, maybe the second suggestion?
    – Wordster
    Oct 22, 2018 at 23:16
  • I appreciate the effort! The problem with tirade is just that it’s something that somebody does, potentially only once. Neither of these are closer than hobby horse, which is both a thing that somebody discusses and, by implication, one they frequently discuss.
    – Stephen
    Oct 22, 2018 at 23:29
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    @Stephen Well, if you don't like pet peeve, you probably do not mean rant. You mean: go on and on about something: talk about it ceaselessly. It must be your favorite topic.
    – Lambie
    Oct 23, 2018 at 18:34
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You could use:

I'll never get off this soapbox.

With the context provided as part of the conversation, the soapbox can be understood as applying to the specific topic, instead of as a general oratory platform.

soapbox noun
soap·box | \ˈsōp-ˌbäks \
: an improvised platform used by a self-appointed, spontaneous, or informal orator
broadly : something that provides an outlet for delivering opinions
https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/soapbox

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a dog whistle vocabulary.com noun

  1. The use of term(s) that seem innocuous but is intended to convey a hidden and potentially controversial message to a particular audience(s).

As in:

"I'll never quit this [word here]" because I like to rant about it.

to

This dog whistle issue caused unrelenting rants from X.

and

... against which he played the “law-and-order” ploy with his dog-whistle rants about dangerous inner-cities, terrorist refugees, and criminal immigrants. google books

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