‘Pinch, punch, first day of the month’ is something many English children grow up saying. On the first day of each month, the words are accompanied by a light pinch and punch on someone’s arm, supposedly to bring good luck. No one seems certain where the custom began, although one explanation links the pinch with salt, once believed to weaken witches, and the punch with driving them away.
On 1st September, I said the familiar words to my Bulgarian partner while giving her arm the required pinch and punch. I explained that it was an English tradition, after which she copied me and returned both. We laughed, and I assumed that was the end of it.
The following day, I received another pinch and punch.
‘Pinch, punch, second day of the month,’ she said.
I had obviously failed to explain that the custom applied only to the first day. She had remembered everything else and simply changed the words to suit the date, which I found much funnier than the original English version.
I am now waiting to see what the third day brings. If her Bulgarian interpretation continues throughout September, I may well have a very sore and bruised arm by the time 1st October arrives, when the real tradition begins again.
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