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Friday, May 28, 2010

Moving violations

I had to institute a new rule in the car today. It doesn't have anything to do with not eating in the car or not putting your feet on the dashboard or your hands out the window. It's not about the volume of the music or who must sit where in the carpool.

Nope. The new rule is this: There is NO punching the driver.

For the past 3 weeks or so, Annie has been balling up her fist and socking my right shoulder, saying "Green one" or "blue one" or "silver one." Of course, she was playing the punch buggy game. Or what I know to be the punch buggy game. When you see a VW bug, you punch the person next to you and call out the color.

However, thanks to this VW commercial, the game has gotten way out of hand:



Except it's not called "Punch Buggy," as it was when I was a kid. Now it's called "Punch Dub" and the alleged new rules are that you can punch any time you see any model of VW -- Beetle, Passat, Routan, etc. Well, that leads to a heck of a lot of punching -- and that doesn't even count the "2 for flinching" or the "3 for lying."

If that's not bad enough, the kids are also playing the "tweeter" game, which calls for a person to holler "tweeter" and land a punch every time they see a yellow car. Trust me, there are more yellow vehicles out there than you'd think.



Now, these two games are dangerous. First, you just can't have someone hauling off and hitting the driver. It's distracting and startling and a little painful. Second, the driver then starts taking his or her eyes off the traffic around them just to search out a VW or a yellow car -- or in the ultimate victory, a yellow VW.

I can hear it now. "No, officer, I was not texting while driving. I was trying to punch my kid for the blue one before she could do it to me."

Seriously, I think Oprah may have to get involved.

12 comments:

Ryan R. said...

Obviously our kids have talked!! I put the kibosh on the "tweeter" competition...too lame for this traditionalist. I too have tried to point out how in the "olden" days, it was just for VW bugs. We called it "Beetle Bug" and that is what you stated (screamed) along with the color as you were socking the sibling next to you. I find myself spotting VW's when no one is in the car and being disappointed!

Paula said...

LOL! Played this as a kid too. Thank God my kids haven't picked up on this game yet. They slug each other enough. There is a reason to have DVR'd everything... Fast forward though commercials. Good Luck!

kimybeee said...

i haven't heard about the yellow thing, but we certainly play the vw game in our cars. the element of surprise is the most fun. my daughter punched me in the leg while i was driving the other day, but she didn't hit me very hard - she knew i would hit back lol
I am not jumpy, but my husband is. He is an easy target. Sounds like a fair rule to me.

Tylaine said...

LOL that video was hillariou! especially the Stevie Wonder part. Thanks for the laugh!
I remember playing the punch buggy game ages ago. Never heard of this new one "tweeter". That would drive you NUTS driving!

Eternal Lizdom said...

I hadn't heard of Tweeter but I was a Punch Bug champ back in college. I refuse to play the new version- I find it sad and insulting. :) I was also the champ at finding "padiddles."

Michelle said...

My daughter and I do a fist punch instead. The first time she slugged her brother in the shoulder so hard that I had to intervene.

Beth Zimmerman said...

LOL! I hadn't seen the commercial (very cute if a bit dangerous) and wasn't aware of this incarnation of the Bug Game. But I think a no hitting the driver rule is definitely a good thing!

Carrie said...

Ahhh.. the "padiddles". I had forgotten about that one!

No hitting the driver is definitely more than fair. :)

kimybeee said...

what is a padiddle?

Cat said...

LOL!!! Glad mine's too young for this... for now. Good luck staying unbruised!

Amy said...

@Kimmybee -- Glad I'm not the only one who doesn't know what a padiddle is.

Mrs4444 said...

I loved that commercial--way too funny!