There are strange threads that apparently connect the generations. For example, the car model that is "it". Having experienced teenagers and an 8-year-old for a couple of weeks, I quickly learned that the sighting of a new model Beetle brings the shout of "punch buggy -- no punch back". From both crews, one from Louisiana and the other from Alaska. Now this is a true meme! A meaningless meme, but certainly widespread. Things got a bit more complicated with the Alaska Gdotter, who also shouts out when she's seen 1) a yellow car ("score"), 2) an orange car (I forget the shout) and 3) a pale blue car ("boo-boo").
What does this have to do with my childhood? Simple: when my brother and I were kids, we were ever on the lookout for a Willys with its weird beak and big moustache. I don't recall what the shout was (if there was one), but I will never forget the look of the cars! I've no idea what the "it" cars were in the intervening years...perhap someone can fill me in.
There are strange threads that apparently connect the generations. For example, the car model that is "it". Having experienced teenagers and an 8-year-old for a couple of weeks, I quickly learned that the sighting of a new model Beetle brings the shout of "punch buggy -- no punch back". From both crews, one from Louisiana and the other from Alaska. Now this is a true meme! A meaningless meme, but certainly widespread. Things got a bit more complicated with the Alaska Gdotter, who also shouts out when she's seen 1) a yellow car ("score"), 2) an orange car (I forget the shout) and 3) a pale blue car ("boo-boo").
What does this have to do with my childhood? Simple: when my brother and I were kids, we were ever on the lookout for a Willys with its weird beak and big moustache. I don't recall what the shout was (if there was one), but I will never forget the look of the cars! I've no idea what the "it" cars were in the intervening years...perhap someone can fill me in.
Delving into my fading memory, I recall one of the students at Freemont(sp) Primary in Riverside being themember of a family with a Willys sedan which we derided as it was pointy at the front and looked nothing like a Ford or Chevy. Early bias.
ReplyDeleteHermano
"Punch buggy... no punch back"....
ReplyDeleteI'm feeling old. Didn't even know about this phrase. LOL
~Anon in AV.
'slug bug' - and you got to punch the other person (lightly) in the arm - roflol - I learned it at college because we 'weren't allowed to punch'
ReplyDeleteOut here in the boonies, it was thumbs up over railroad tracks - lol - too few cars on the back roads when the kids were younger.
bro -- I certainly recall that to us kids, the Willys looked mighty strange.
ReplyDeleteanon av -- there's always something new, trivial & different with youngsters around.
frame -- but what kind of car evoked that response? Was it a Beetle?
Indeed it was a Beetle - the original Bug, at that =p
ReplyDeleteLoved the look of that Willys, Granny
ReplyDeleteframe -- oh, I guessed right! But then, the Beetle was always a car that stuck out. Possiby that's one of the things that added to its popularity.
ReplyDeleteavus -- in my youth, the Willys was considered quite weird. Besides, it was definitely NOT a Detroit product. Henry J. Kaiser, I believe, was the backer. Built in California.