Well that's close enough to what I thought - we don't use that phrase in America so it threw me off until I kept thinking of all the words ending in bating that it could mean.

Debating?
Rebating?

Then, as they say in American football, I went long - and didn't get it wrong.

Wouldn't you say that using that phrase would eb an ad hominem attack - unless you were clearly joking and on rather better terms than Isobel and I are?

Just curious