# Rabbit rabbit! **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 1, 2023, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-rabbit/983420 "2023-05-01T15:03:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-rabbit/983420/1 "2023-05-01T15:03:44Z")
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! ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-rabbit/983420/2 "2023-05-01T15:17:02Z")
Apparently someone says it [because there’s a wiki entry](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rabbit_rabbit_rabbit). Never heard of before now. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-rabbit/983420/3 "2023-05-01T15:36:46Z")
Yeah, looking at past threads, there’s not a lot of traction on the question. @dinsdale at least was a practitioner. 🙂 [Rabbit Rabbit - Factual Questions - Straight Dope Message Board](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-rabbit/204934/11) ---
**Author:** ![74westy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/74westy/32/3950_2.png) [@74westy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/74westy)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 4:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-rabbit/983420/4 "2023-05-01T16:18:50Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-rabbit/983420/5 "2023-05-01T16:58:34Z")
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? > **[Western gorilla](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_gorilla)** > > Western lowland gorilla (Gorilla gorilla gorilla)Cross River gorilla (Gorilla gorilla diehli) > The western gorilla (Gorilla gorilla) is a great ape found in Africa, one of two species of the hominid genus Gorilla. Large and robust with males weighing around 168 kilograms (370 lb), the hair is significantly lighter in color than the eastern gorilla, Gorilla beringei, and geographically isolated from them in a region at the midwest of the African continent. Two subspecies are recognised, Goril... ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 5:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-rabbit/983420/6 "2023-05-01T17:00:56Z")
Never heard of this before. Ever. ---
**Author:** ![Procrustus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/procrustus/32/2994_2.png) [@Procrustus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Procrustus)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 5:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-rabbit/983420/7 "2023-05-01T17:03:52Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > Never heard of the first of the month thing before today. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Maserschmidt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/maserschmidt/32/18829_2.png) [@Maserschmidt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maserschmidt)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 5:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-rabbit/983420/8 "2023-05-01T17:17:10Z")
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. > **[This is why we say 'pinch punch' and 'white rabbits' on the first of the month](https://www.countryliving.com/uk/wellbeing/news/a1296/pinch-punch-white-rabbits-first-day-month/)** > > Do you know where these superstitious phrases come from? ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-rabbit/983420/9 "2023-05-01T18:09:54Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 7:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-rabbit/983420/10 "2023-05-01T19:16:42Z")
I’ve never heard of this (raised in Chicago). Time for a poll! _Poll ([view on site](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-rabbit/983420/10))_ ---
**Author:** ![TroutMan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/troutman/32/6721_2.png) [@TroutMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroutMan)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-rabbit/983420/11 "2023-05-01T19:55:43Z")
Like @74westy, we used to say it to get the campfire smoke to blow somewhere else. I learned this in California. ---
**Author:** ![iamatractorboy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/iamatractorboy/32/21261_2.png) [@iamatractorboy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/iamatractorboy)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-rabbit/983420/12 "2023-05-01T20:05:43Z")
I thought you were talking about this for a second… [Rabbit](https://youtu.be/qGNojF9qKS0) [(In case anyone is wondering…)](https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/rabbit-on) ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-rabbit/983420/13 "2023-05-01T20:53:18Z")
A lost John Updike novel, perhaps? ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-rabbit/983420/14 "2023-05-01T21:35:35Z")
I’ve seen that expression in books I’ve read. I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone say it IRL. ---
**Author:** ![Yogeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yogeekgirl/32/4129_2.png) [@Yogeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yogeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2023, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-rabbit/983420/15 "2023-05-01T22:29:46Z")
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.😁. 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. ---
**Author:** ![Topologist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/topologist/32/3208_2.png) [@Topologist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Topologist)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-rabbit/983420/16 "2023-05-02T16:19:45Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-rabbit/983420/17 "2023-05-02T18:54:16Z")
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. ☹ 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. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 9:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-rabbit/983420/18 "2023-05-02T21:08:04Z")
> [@74westy](#): > > My children were taught by someone to say, “Rabbit, Rabbit, Rabbit” when campfire smoke is blowing in their faces. The version of the anti-smoke incantation I learned was “I hate white rabbits” (also alluded to in the wiki article). ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-rabbit/983420/19 "2023-05-02T23:10:22Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![SCAdian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scadian/32/3292_2.png) [@SCAdian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SCAdian)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2023, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-rabbit/983420/20 "2023-05-02T23:18:40Z")
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.”) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/rabbit-rabbit/983420.md?page=2)