Punch Buggy Brown!
While Slug Bug does seem a little more macho, Punch Buggy definitely has better rhythm, but more importantly, who ever uses the word ‘slug’ any more (except for in reference to shell-less snails)? It should be relegated to 1930s South Dakota, here it belongs.
Anyone who wants to take down bears, elephants, sasquatch and most dinosaurs in a shotgun fueled manly fury.
Slug Bug is just manlier.
I’d play along with the tradition if we chucked both of the leading phrases and went with
“Anally Raped Punchbuggy BLUE!” ::::smack!::::
“Anally Raped Punchbuggy RED!” ::::smack!::::
THANK YOU! I was going to post this very thing. I’ve only known it as SLUG BUG since I was a kid. Punch buggy is used when you spot an Amish transport.
There’s another level of grotesquery in these commercials that no one else has mentioned. Sure, it’s a little obnoxious that adults are doing it, but if you grew up with it, that’s fine, it doesn’t really bother me. It definitely bothers me that they generalized it to every VW, I think it bastardized the tradition and, thus, undermines their attempt to co-opt it in their favor, but that I can see as some idiot advertiser just thinking it’s a good idea and not, so while horrific, it is at least marginally understandable.
But, by God, if you’re going to co-opt the game and apply it to every VW, at the very least keep the basic rules that aren’t affected by your bastardization of the game. You HAVE to say “Punch Buggy Blue!” or, as mentioned, the variant “Slug Bug Blue!” I have NEVER heard of anyone just saying “Blue One!”
Yes, it may not be a “Buggy” in your commercial, but at least it would only be a partial bastardization. In fact, it’s a lost opportunity at a mildly humorous introduction to the ad campaign where someone punches someone else seeing some random VW and saying “Punch Buggy”, the other person complaining about it, and then talking about how it carries on some tradition or whatever other marketting BS. Or if you don’t want to do that, at least be creative enough to come up with something better than “One”. Maybe “Volk Poke” (and poking instead of punching) or “Punch Wagon” or anything… anything is better than “One”.
Either way, it probably is the worst ad campaign I’ve seen since Quiznos had those horrible singing rats.
Regarding the name – we have a poll thread now, so “Punch Buggy” folks can vote correctly and “Slug Bug” types can try and see if they can click a radial button.
Born in '67, grew up in eastern Long Island. Didn’t hear about it until I was dating in the mid-80’s – 1st girlfriend’s little niece & nephews would holler “Beetlebug Blue (or yellow or what have you)!” First person to call it got to punch someone else with no backsies.
What, The Orb’s track from Orbus Terrarum?
While I played the nice version, I learned my cousin played the mean one: part of the point was so see who could take the most punches. He would always win in one.
Hang on – when I was a kid (70s-80s, Western Canada), there was the following:
[ul][li]Punch buggy = VW Beetle[/li][li]Jelly bean = VW van (bus, kombi, whatever)[/li][*]Bugs bunny = VW Rabbit[/ul]