# I'm driving a pediddle **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 18, 2004, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-driving-a-pediddle/240707 "2004-04-18T20:37:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Roadwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@Roadwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadwalker)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 8:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-driving-a-pediddle/240707/1 "2004-04-18T20:37:19Z")
I saw the reflection of my car last night and niticed my right low-beam was out. I stopped at the auto parts store but wasn’t going to change the light at night in the rain. Who else uses the term _pediddle_ to refer to a car with one light out? Anyone else play the peddidle game? ---
**Author:** ![GingerOfTheNorth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/cdc98d/32.png) [@GingerOfTheNorth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GingerOfTheNorth)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-driving-a-pediddle/240707/2 "2004-04-18T20:38:15Z")
Yep. I knew exactly what you meant as soon as I saw the thread title. ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-driving-a-pediddle/240707/3 "2004-04-18T20:48:52Z")
Still do. “Cows” is still my favorite road trip game. Lots of farms where I used to live. ---
**Author:** ![IGJoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/igjoe/32/5420_2.png) [@IGJoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IGJoe)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-driving-a-pediddle/240707/4 "2004-04-18T21:12:52Z")
I got introduced to the peddidle game about a month back. I do OK when I’m driving, and concentrating on the road, but I’m _terrible_ as a passenger. Always looking around at everything, but not paying attention to anything. The way I was told, you can also get points for a “pedonk,” which is a vehicle with only one taillight. ---
**Author:** ![Eleusis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f4b2a3/32.png) [@Eleusis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eleusis)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-driving-a-pediddle/240707/5 "2004-04-18T21:33:57Z")
Man, it’s been probably 15 years since I heard/saw that word. Do hit the ceiling of the car when you yell out pediddle? We gave extra points for the extremely rare pediddle cop. ---
**Author:** ![tanookie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/48db29/32.png) [@tanookie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanookie)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-driving-a-pediddle/240707/6 "2004-04-18T23:20:29Z")
Finding a pediddle nets you a kiss … A friend in college taught me that was the pediddle game. ---
**Author:** ![DadWagonDriver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/edb3f5/32.png) [@DadWagonDriver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DadWagonDriver)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2004, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-driving-a-pediddle/240707/7 "2004-04-18T23:35:35Z")
We played strip pedittle in high school. Those were the days. ---
**Author:** ![raz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9f8e36/32.png) [@raz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/raz)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-driving-a-pediddle/240707/8 "2004-04-19T00:06:51Z")
Yep - my friends and I play the pediddle game. If you see one you have to say pediddle and hit the dashboard a certain way. You smack the dashboard twice, then the windshield with the back of your hand then the dashboard again, so you get 4 taps in quick succession. I dunno, it’s weird. And if you get 3 pediddles in one night the passenger owes you a beer. ---
**Author:** ![chefIL11](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e36b37/32.png) [@chefIL11](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chefIL11)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 4:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-driving-a-pediddle/240707/9 "2004-04-19T04:15:32Z")
the southwest suburbs of chicago were no stranger to padiddle. i played that through three years of my high school. ---
**Author:** ![Beauty\_Personified](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e480ec/32.png) [@Beauty\_Personified](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Beauty_Personified)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 5:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-driving-a-pediddle/240707/10 "2004-04-19T05:57:06Z")
Pediddle. I’ve never seen that word spelled out before. Around here, pediddle is a whole 'nother beast, which doesn’t involve cars at all. Whenever we see a person with an eyepatch or glass eye, et cetera, someone yells “pediddle”, then everyone yells “pediddle” and they all rush the person and beat them up. Kind of like a cross between pediddle and the punch-buggy game. \>:-) (We need an “evil” smilie.) Yes, I’m bullsh\*ting everyone. 😃 But we do play pediddle the yell-and-hit-the-roof way. But I don’t remember what penalties or rewards were ever used. Maybe it depended on the group; decided on during the trip. I’m am curious where the word “pediddle” can from, though. Did it originally refer just to cars with one headlight out, or just to the game played when such a car is seen? And how long has this game been around? I looked up the word at [Dictionary.com](http://dictionary.reference.com/), trying variations of the word with _a_, _e_, _i_, and _o_ as the first vowel, and even _tt_ in the place of _dd_. The closest word that came up was “[paradiddle](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?r=2&q=paradiddle)”. _The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition_ defines “paradiddle” as a noun meaning… > [@](#): > > A pattern of drumbeats characterized by four basic beats and alternating left-handed and right-handed strokes on the successive primary beats. Could this be a connection to the game of pediddle as played by **raz** … > [@](#): > > You smack the dashboard twice, then the windshield with the back of your hand then the dashboard again, so you get 4 taps in quick succession. This is indeed an interesting “pediddlement”. ---
**Author:** ![LorieSmurf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/a587f6/32.png) [@LorieSmurf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LorieSmurf)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 10:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-driving-a-pediddle/240707/11 "2004-04-19T10:56:13Z")
'round these parts, I’ve always heard the term “pop-eye”. But we did the tapping too, but I can’t remember what sequence it was. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 4:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-driving-a-pediddle/240707/12 "2004-04-19T16:46:55Z")
Depending upon _which_ headlight was out, it was either a pediddle or a pedinkle. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Nutty\_Bunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/d07c76/32.png) [@Nutty\_Bunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nutty_Bunny)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-driving-a-pediddle/240707/13 "2004-04-19T18:28:44Z")
I can honestly say I’ve never heard that term before in my life. I’ve always called it a “cyclops” car. ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-driving-a-pediddle/240707/14 "2004-04-19T18:34:58Z")
I thought it was ‘driving perdido’; reinforced in my mind by my high school Spanish classes, where perdido translated to ‘lost’. ---
**Author:** ![UncleBeer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/977dab/32.png) [@UncleBeer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/UncleBeer)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 7:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-driving-a-pediddle/240707/15 "2004-04-19T19:14:32Z")
What the hell are you guys talking about? Is this anything like the game we used to play at Cedar Point when we were kids - “Spot the testicle/nipple?” ---
**Author:** ![VunderBob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/839c29/32.png) [@VunderBob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VunderBob)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 7:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-driving-a-pediddle/240707/16 "2004-04-19T19:17:29Z")
> [@UncleBeer](#): > > What the hell are you guys talking about? Is this anything like the game we used to play at Cedar Point when we were kids - “Spot the testicle/nipple?” Not that much fun. The subject is a car with a burned out headlight. ---
**Author:** ![stargazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eb8c5e/32.png) [@stargazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/stargazer)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 8:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-driving-a-pediddle/240707/17 "2004-04-19T20:14:13Z")
We always spelled it “p’diddle,” and spotting one first nets a kiss from the other occupants of the car… so you had to be careful who you played with! My hubby and I used to have some sort of escalation – whoever got 5 ahead of the other won, or got more than a kiss, or something. Can’t remember now, I’ll have to ask him. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d26b3c/32.png) [@Mr.Blue\_Sky](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Blue_Sky)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 9:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-driving-a-pediddle/240707/18 "2004-04-19T21:14:10Z")
That’s definitely a new one on me. We always called cars with one headlight, uh, a car with one headlight. ---
**Author:** ![Roadwalker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e19b73/32.png) [@Roadwalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roadwalker)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 11:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-driving-a-pediddle/240707/19 "2004-04-19T23:16:53Z")
Okay the first person who said Pediddle thought that it was a sniglet. Know what a \*sniglet \* is? And that was in Hawaii in about 1984. Can I hear where else this term is use and how far back? and can’t replace the damn headlight because the battery is in the way :smack: ---
**Author:** ![screech-owl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@screech-owl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/screech-owl)\ **Post date:** [April 19, 2004, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-driving-a-pediddle/240707/20 "2004-04-19T23:30:32Z")
> [@Roadwalker](#): > > Okay > the first person who said Pediddle thought that it was a sniglet. > Know what a \*sniglet \* is? > And that was in Hawaii in about 1984. > Can I hear where else this term is use and how far back? A little confused here(it’s a half-hour after work, so I’m entitled to one cranial eructation): are you referring to the term “pediddle” or the term “sniglet”? As far as “pediddle”, my (snotty) older cousin taught it to me on the way back from a cross-country trip, back in the very early 1970s [I was 8 at the time, and it was NOT a fun trip, she was hogging the whole back seat since she was twelve and she ‘deserved more of the back seat than me’. Mom finallay straightened her out about seat ownership about fourteen states from where we picked her up. And she (SOC) got pissed when I would win both “pediddle” and “punchbuggy.” [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/im-driving-a-pediddle/240707.md?page=2)