Rabbit rabbit!

There are threads from '02, '03, and '04 seeking etymology, but I don’t care about etymology. I’m just here to say it! (does anyone else say it?)

Rabbit rabbit!

Apparently someone says it because there’s a wiki entry.

Never heard of before now.

Yeah, looking at past threads, there’s not a lot of traction on the question. @dinsdale at least was a practitioner. :slight_smile:

Rabbit Rabbit - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board

My children were taught by someone to say, “Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit” when campfire smoke is blowing in their faces. This is mentioned in TriPolar’s wikipedia link.

Never heard of the first of the month thing before today.

I thought maybe this thread would be about animals whose genus, species and subspecies names are the same, as in the Western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla). I wonder what happens if you say that the first day of the month upon waking?

Never heard of this before. Ever.

It was a thing back in junior high era in my area. (mid 1970s, mid-Atlantic) Not a big thing by any stretch. But a thing.

Interesting, I wonder if that’s a New England thing, I first learned it from a friend who went to Boston College, and it appears to at least be somewhat known here.

Here’s a local news anchor realizing she forgot to do it this morning.

On the other hand, I’d never heard ‘a pinch and a punch, the first of the month’, but that also seems to be a thing. Also, some folks say rabbit, rabbit, white rabbit, or just white rabbit.

I swear I’m not making this up.

Wiki said it seems to be concentrated in the NE states, so someone saying it in Boston seem apt.

Pinch and a punch is a new one to me, too.

I’ve never heard of this (raised in Chicago). Time for a poll!

  • I was raised in New England and I’ve heard of this.
  • I was raised in New England and I’ve never heard of this.
  • I was raised elsewhere in the US and I’ve never heard of this.
  • I was raised elsewhere in the US and I’ve heard of this.
  • I was raised outside the US and I’ve never heard of this.
  • I was raised outside the US and I’ve heard of this.

0 voters

Like @74westy, we used to say it to get the campfire smoke to blow somewhere else. I learned this in California.

I thought you were talking about this for a second…

Rabbit

(In case anyone is wondering…)

A lost John Updike novel, perhaps?

I’ve seen that expression in books I’ve read. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say it IRL.

I’m from the Midwest and I’ve heard of it- sort of! My stepmother is from New England and I thought it was something to be said on New Year’s Day. I guess that would count as the first of the month.:grin:. I always wondered if it was akin to hollering “Jinx!!” first, after you and your friend(s) said the same thing at the same time.

I voted “raised in New England and I’ve never heard of this.” But I grew up in southern NE (Connecticut), so it’s very possible it’s a northern NE thing. The two regions do often consider themselves separate.

My late first wife was raised in New England. She said “rabbit rabbit” on the first of the month. I grew up in SoCal and the first I ever heard of this silly custom was when she & I were dating. I don’t recall that I ever learned where she got it from. And I sure can’t ask her now. :frowning_face: I have a vague semi-recollection it came from her Mom, but that may just be me inventing that. Mom’s now dead too so no asking her either.

Now’s where it gets a bit weird.

I asked her younger sister about the custom. Lil Sis had never heard of the custom nor recalls her older sister or Mom ever ever doing it. Despite the fact they lived in the same house non-stop from her birth to college and were even in the same sorority with a couple of years of overlap there.

So assuming these memories are accurate, late first wife must have picked it up from somebody post-college. And despite her & sis being New Englanders, that wasn’t where she got it.

Hmmm.

The version of the anti-smoke incantation I learned was “I hate white rabbits” (also alluded to in the wiki article).

I assumed that this was related to what you’re supposed to say when driving by a cemetery: When you start passing the cemetery, you start saying “bunny bunny bunny…”, repeated as many times as necessary, and ending with “…rabbit” when you get to the end.

Cleveland, with western PA roots.

I know it from the Trixie Belden book mentioned in the Wiki article, which I read back in the early '70s, but I’ve never remembered to try it. (Nowadays the first thing I say in the morning is usually something along the lines of “Get off my legs, cat - I want to get up.”)