Though it sounds a bit like gibberish, the phrase rabbit rabbit is a long-held superstition thought to bring about good luck. But it’s not to be uttered just any old random day. Rather, if you say it on the first day of the month before any other words come out of your mouth, then luck is thought to be coaxed your way. If you get your rabbits in, luck is yours for 30 days … or so goes the folklore.
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WHERE DID RABBIT RABBIT COME FROM?
According to the Farmers’ Almanac, the phrase goes back to at least 1909, when a British periodical featured a girl who said “Rabbits!” on the first day of each month for good luck.
President Roosevelt also reportedly rabbited every month without fail. In 1935, The Nottingham Evening Post wrote: “Even Mr. Roosevelt, the President of the United States, has confessed to a friend that he says ‘Rabbits’ on the first of every month—and, what is more, he would not think of omitting the utterance on any account.”
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WHAT ABOUT HARE HARE?
Some people believe you also must say hare or hare hare before you fall asleep on the last day of the month to bring about the luck. Why not rabbit again—is that just splitting hairs?
Though sometimes used interchangeably, rabbits and hares aren’t the same animals. While they’re closely related, rabbits are generally smaller and have shorter ears. Both belong to the family Leporidae, but hares make nests in the grass while rabbits make burrows.
For insight into the word rabbit, we don’t have to look any further than New York’s Coney Island (aka Rabbit Island). You see, coney was what people called rabbits until about the 1700s. The word comes from the French word for rabbit, coniz (plural conil), which came from the Latin word cuniculus. Originally rabbit was only used to refer to a young coney, but over time it became the more popular term for all coneys.
From Dictionary.com
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