FW: perdiddle/padaddle

[Frank Abate]

Adding to what Lynne M says below, in the Cleveland, OH area (late 60s) we
also had "paduncle" (sp?) when a rear light was out.  Both this and padiddle
allowed the seer to kiss his/her date (the typical setting in which this was
played).

Also, let me add the game "Punch Buggy", which my kids and others in CT play
now, and have for some years.  If one sees an old VW Beetle, one says "Punch
Buggy [the color of the car]", and one then has the "right" to punch another
kid.  Typically, one says, "Punch Buggy red" (or whatever) and immediately
punches someone lightly on the upper arm.

Frank Abate

-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU]On Behalf
Of Lynne Murphy
Sent: Wednesday, March 06, 2002 11:29 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: perdiddle/padaddle


Actually, all this p[]diddle talk has suddenly made me remember...
we had a variation of our 'perdiddle' that was 'perdiddle/padaddle'.  You
said 'perdiddle' if the headlight was out, but 'padaddle' if one of the
rear lights was out.  I think you still hit or kissed in any case.  Google
search has nothing for 'padaddle'.  I'll check with folks from my childhood
and see if I can get any confirmation.

Lynne

Dr M Lynne Murphy
Lecturer in Linguistics
Acting Director, MA in Applied Linguistics
School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QH
UK

phone +44-(0)1273-678844
fax   +44-(0)1273-671320