Bugged
Lyss drives by a Dedham auto-body shop that specializes in old Bugs.
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Great shot!
This place would so have been declared a Punchbuggy-Free Zone back in my Punchbuggy playing days, so that someone clever didn't memorize all the colors in order to work up a salvo of punches (each with no punchbacks.)
Punch Buggy? Or Slug Bug?
When I was a kid, we played the same game, only we called them SLUG BUGs rather than punch buggies.
When my kids reached school age, they picked up on the Punch Buggy game. This was around the time the NeoBeetles were introduced.
Upon traveling to Oregon, where there are a fair number of the original VW beetles still in service, as well as a large hatch of new ones, they differentiated them: the old ones were "slug bugs" and the new ones were "punch buggies".
Double sluggs if your taxonomy was in error!
Punchbuggy vs. slugbug
Oh, it's a regional thing, without a doubt. When I worked with kids in Washington from 1998-2000, they played slugbug, as did I as a kid in Washington and a young adult in Minnesota. When I started working with kids here in 2000, they all played punchbuggy.
And yes, especially around that time, I noticed when I moved here that there aren't many original Beetles in MA, I assume partially because of the road salt use here (those things rust like a mofo) and also because MA requires safety inspections unlike WA where you can drive anything you can attach a license plate to.
I had initially decided in 1998 when the New Beetle came out that they didn't count in slugbug, but once I moved here and they were the ONLY bugs, I gave in and allowed myself to play slugbug (not punchbuggy, dammit!) with the new ones. Then in 2002 I bought a Beetle. It was pretty fun to drive around and see people smack each other when they saw my car. A couple weeks ago, some dumbass ran a red light and smacked INTO my Beetle, but it was all good, because now I have a brightfreakinorange Honda Fit Sport. Word.