Did people really used to punch each other at the sight of a Volkswagen Beetle in traffic?

[Anonymous]

And holding your breath through a tunnel, stopping the car (briefly) going over a railroad track (though I eventually convinced them that was dangerous), my uncle always honked incessantly through tunnels but that was also annoying!

[Anonymous]

45 year old Southerner here and it was very much a thing growing up. I still think it when I see one 😊

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not an urban legend.
We definitely did this growing up.

We also played Padiddle....one headlight of a car coming at you and you yelled paddidle and hit the ceiling of the car. As teens it would allow us to kiss someone else in the car.

Yes, I’m from New England and we played both of these games. My DC, 12, plays it now.

We did both in MD and my husband's family did in MA as well. Late 90s graduates.

We played the point game where you assign value to pedestrians and other things you might hit with the car. That one I think was more disturbing.

That was based on the movie "Death Race 2000," starring David Caradine, I think.

NP, no I don’t think so because we did the points game in the 90s.

Same- this was in the 80s/90s.

[Anonymous]

Yellow Punchbuggy No Punchbacks!! Done between friends and siblings. Just a soft pretend punch.

[Anonymous]

Now the kids yell TESLA! when they see one.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:LOL…um, yes, if by “people” you mean kids in the backseat, and by “punch” you mean “light tap on the arm.”

This is maybe the most pathetic reach I’ve ever seen trying to make the whole Everything is Sensitive point. And that really is saying something. Stay bothered!

Do you seriously think male relatives delivered "light taps on the arm" ?????

If you think so you are delusional.

Yeah, I do, because that’s what my brother and male cousins did. And if he failed to follow that rule, they got in trouble. So yeah, that is what I think because that’s how it went in my family. If your parents let you behave like demons, that is fine, but that’s not everyone’s experience.

[Anonymous]

OP over here acting like punch buggy is the knockout game…”urban legend” lol

[Anonymous]

My kids (20 and 24) learned it from their older cousin when they were little, but thankfully the novelty wore off. Maybe it came from my SIL or her ex. We called it Slug Bug.

[Anonymous]

We still play it. My 5 year old is still having trouble figuring out which ones are Beetles, he’s always trying to call Fiats and Mini Coopers.

[Anonymous]

It’s called Slug Bug, people.

[Anonymous]

Punch buggy, no punch backs! The 80s were awesome.

[Anonymous]

Yes and as a youngest child I hated it

[Anonymous]

We called it Slug Bug, but punch buggy works too. Middle/high school in the late 80s & 90s. Funny, my older sister was allowed to punch me pretty hard, but if I did anything harder than a light tap I'd get hell for it . Not uncommon to have a few bruises at the end of a long car trip.

We'd smack the car ceiling if we saw a car with one headlight (I don't remember saying anything, but it was a hard enough of a smack to get everyone's attention).

Held our breath and kept one finger in the ceiling going through tunnels.

And some kind of weird game that involved pinching, slapping, and rubbing the inside of your kid sister's arm until it turned bright red like a strawberry patch. Fun times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We called it Slug Bug, but punch buggy works too. Middle/high school in the late 80s & 90s. Funny, my older sister was allowed to punch me pretty hard, but if I did anything harder than a light tap I'd get hell for it . Not uncommon to have a few bruises at the end of a long car trip.

We'd smack the car ceiling if we saw a car with one headlight (I don't remember saying anything, but it was a hard enough of a smack to get everyone's attention).

Held our breath and kept one finger in the ceiling going through tunnels.

And some kind of weird game that involved pinching, slapping, and rubbing the inside of your kid sister's arm until it turned bright red like a strawberry patch. Fun times.

Wussy test- Pencil eraser on your siblings arm until it bleeds or they scream mercy.

[Anonymous]

Thanks for unlocking this memory. There aren't as many bugs on the road these days, but I'm going to introduce this to my kids.