The Australian Dictionary of Invisible Culture for Teachers
dob in
verb: someone does something (see more)
Someone (e.g. Ira) said something like this to someone else (e.g. Kate) about another person (e.g. Paul) “Paul did something bad.”
Ira knows: Paul is someone like Ira (e.g. co-workers). Kate is not someone like Paul (e.g. the boss). Kate can do bad things to someone like Paul (e.g. fire him).
Ira says this to Kate because he thinks: Kate wants to know something bad happened. Paul will not say this to Kate. Kate can do something bad to Paul. This is good.
People in Australia think: If someone does something like this, it is very bad. People feel something bad when they think about things like this.
Note
'Dobbing someone in' generally benefits the person who is in power (i.e. Kate in the entry), thus there are lots of times where people are encouraged to dob by institutions, despite the social attitude that it is bad to do this."I can't believe Cameron dobbed me in for taking longer lunches. Now the boss is making me record my work every 15 minutes."
"Travis could never get away with anything at home. His sister always used to dob him in to their parents, especially for climbing the trees in the orchard. "
"Dob in a dealer (Crimestoppers campaign)"
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