Among some speakers of English, saying rabbit, rabbit before saying anything else on the first morning of the first day of the month supposedly ensures good luck for the next four weeks. Other versions of this superstition include saying white rabbits and just rabbits. If you forget and say something else before you say the magic phrase, you can always reverse your luck by saying tibbar, tibbar (rabbit, rabbit spelled backwards) just before going to bed that night. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Rabbit, Rabbit and Tibbar, Tibbar”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi.
Hi, who’s this?
This is Dorothy from Wisconsin.
Hi, Dorothy.
Racine, Wisconsin.
Racine?
-huh.
Welcome to the show. How can we help?
Well, I have a friend who said her mother told her all her life that on the first day of the month, before you do anything, the first thing you say is, rabbit, rabbit, bring me good luck.
On the first day of the month?
-huh.
Your mother told you this.
My friend’s mother told me.
Your friend’s mother.
Okay.
Do you do this?
Does it work?
Well, I don’t know.
You haven’t tried it.
Well, I probably did try it one time or another, but how do you know when you’ve got good luck?
Oh, yeah, that’s a good point.
Did you also have to climb out of the bed, over the foot of the bed, on the first day of the month?
Oh, she did not say that.
That might have helped.
Yeah, some places say that you have to climb over the foot of the bed, too.
Well, I hope you shouldn’t be like that.
Yeah, there’s actually a long tradition of invoking rabbits in one form or another like that, saying rabbit, rabbit first thing when you wake up, or saying white rabbits, or saying white rabbits, white rabbits, white rabbits, which will wake you up better than coffee, I think, trying to say that.
You mean that it was always rabbit?
It’s been lots of different things.
In the U.K., you often hear white rabbit or white rabbits.
And we don’t know why that tradition exists.
I mean, maybe it has to do with the fact that rabbits are associated with good luck, you know, like carrying a rabbit’s foot.
Oh, that’s right.
We always did, didn’t we?
Yes, Franklin Delano Roosevelt did.
Yeah.
I wouldn’t want to do it now.
Right.
Yes, FDR did, and he was said to say rabbit, rabbit.
Oh, really?
Yes.
Oh, really?
Yes.
You do this, Martha.
You know, I try, but I often forget.
But there is a remedy for that, too.
Oh, there is?
Yes.
If you forget to say rabbit, rabbit first thing in the morning, you can say tibber, tibber at night, and that’s supposed to.
Tibber, tibber?
Tibber, tibber.
T-I-B-B-E-R?
T-I-B-B-A-R.
Tibber, tibber.
Oh, backward.
Yes, rabbit.
The word rabbit, backward.
Yes, rabbit spelled backwards.
Oh, very good.
You know, I think I just want an app for my phone, so on the first day of the month, it wakes me up with a rabbit, rabbit, and the job is done.
My phone will have all the good luck then, right?
Not me.
Oh, now that sounds great.
Yeah.
I’ll make my millions that way.
Thank you so much for your call.
We really appreciate it.
Thank you.
I love your program.
Oh, thanks.
Take care.
Bye-bye.
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