A Little on Padiddle




Also: Padaddle, Pididdle, Pediddle, Piddiddle, Piddidle, Perdiddle, etc.




US slang term for car with one headlight. Origin unknown. After a little Googling I've seen it attributed as a term from the mid-1940's, early 1950's, the 1960's, the LATE 1960's, and originating from (or being current in) Maine, Mississippi, Tennessee, Oregon, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Western New York, Connecticut, and the NYC suburbs. Seeing one and saying "padiddle" entitles you to get some good luck, make a wish, touch your car roof, get a kiss, give a slap, or make someone take off an article of clothing, depending on the company with you in the car. The earliest version, however, was not STRIP padiddle, but kissing padiddle. Today you can call "padiddle" if you see a woman with one erect nipple.

• 
  A very serious introduction to the game of Padiddle in its traditional form.
  
  
  
  
  
• The rules for "extreme padiddle."

One linguist thinks it goes along with the host of candle-related superstitions that originated with carriage travel, when candles were the headlights.

If a candle suddenly goes out by itself, it is an omen of a death in the family.




It seems possible that a passing coach or carriage with an extinguished flame might have required an antidote (the kiss). On the other hand the tradition that an accidentally snuffed candle means an impending wedding might have prompted a kiss for a entirely different reason.

Another linguist went to TOWN trying to figure out the correct (or most correct) way to spell padiddle, which is uniquely suited to many spellings:

How to spell a lax vowel (which, in my /f/ environment, after a fricative and before a stop, may actually devoice or disappear) in a "nonwritten" item is an interesting question. When I stress every syllable, I get an "uh" (the vowel of "nut") in the first syllable. No help for the spelling at all.

In the end the vote went to "padiddle" because it had the most hits on Google. Oh Google, how you've shaped us.




I won't even get into the different words for cars with a broken taillight. OK, OK, I will. It's either "padungle" or "paduncle."




I used to see a car with a headlight out and make a wish. Now I just see a dead light and shudder to think that this driver is someday certainly going to come racing up invisibly on my right at 90 mph in one of the Bay Area's Darwinian Merge Mazes on some rainy night and make me One with My Gods in a big steaming pile of twisted burning metal and rubber. I tried going back to making wishes, and the only one I could articulate in that heartbeat is "oh god let them drive safely and steer clear of me until they get that headlight fixed." California city driving has made me into a total basket case on the road. Being in a slow-speed low-impact 5-car pile up on Highway 80 coming off the bridge at rush hour two weeks ago didn't help.





The American Dialect Society - my source for most of this stuff- has investigated the origins of Padiddle-- their discussion list has a completely and delightfully searchable archive, for hours of entertainment. From the ADS archives:





A collection of "padiddle" references in texts, including an article posing the idea that padiddle comes from "perdido" (Spanish for "lost").





Another collection of links, including a Washington Post article, and another article that links padiddle with perdido, specifically the 1940's song by Duke Ellington of that name.