Quote:
Originally Posted by maddz
If I recall correctly, a 'knocker-up' was a person employed by management to ensure shift workers in a factory were woken up in time to arrive for their shift.
And a hare is a common(ish) rabbit-like animal in Europe - 'mad as a March hare', 'jugged hare'.
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A "Knocker up" was certainly employed at least in Victorian era English towns.
Bugs bunny might be a hare. Some "North American" rabbits* are not actually the same thing as the European rabbit that originated in Spain. The Ancient Romans kept them for food. There were hares in Ireland from some time after the last Ice Age but no rabbits or snakes. The Normans brought rabbits to Britain and Ireland in 11th and 12th C. The ancient Romans may have kept rabbits in "England" but obviously not enough escaped to become established till Norman times (1066 and later in England and somewhat later in Ireland).
[* North American Cottontail rabbits show a greater resistance to myxomatosis than European rabbits. Distant "relatives" to European rabbit
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cottontail_rabbit ]