http://shmuel.livejournal.com/ ([identity profile] shmuel.livejournal.com) wrote in [personal profile] fauxklore 2009-09-04 08:54 am (UTC)

I'd never heard of "daddy rabbit" before, but Google confirms that it's a known term.

Urban Dictionary (http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Daddy+Rabbit) defines it as the lead person on a project, or the leader in a group.

The earliest citation I've found so far is from the introduction of a speaker at the annual convention of the North Carolina Good Roads Association in 1912 (http://books.google.com/books?id=VYkvAAAAYAAJ&pg=RA1-PA26&dq=%22Daddy+Rabbit%22&lr=#v=onepage&q=%22Daddy%20Rabbit%22&f=false).

If I had to put money on the origin, I'd go with folklore (http://books.google.com/books?id=j8C9I2I6fO8C&pg=PA193&dq=%22Daddy+Rabbit%22#v=onepage&q=%22Daddy%20Rabbit%22&f=false), probably Creole (http://books.google.com/books?id=_RRnJBZX23wC&pg=PA65-IA2&lpg=PA65-IA2&dq=%22daddy+goat+and+daddy+rabbit%22&source=bl&ots=B5jw0F2Nww&sig=6ToZFXhx126oM288AbfVWuNYCnU&hl=en&ei=UtCgSvnJLYmnlAeaydDYDA&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2#v=onepage&q=%22daddy%20rabbit%22&f=false) or African-American (http://books.google.com/books?id=kz_YAAAAMAAJ&q=%22Daddy+Rabbit%22&dq=%22Daddy+Rabbit%22&lr=). But I've been wrong before.

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