Favorite Peter

Orchids and gratitude go out to published author and blogger, Cheryl Klein, for sparking the idea for this post.

Cheryl had suggested, in response to the previous post, that one of my childhood nicknames - Peter Underpants - should be the name of a new clothing line, or at least, the title of a second blog.

She is automatically entitled to residuals when the profits start pouring in.

Can you imagine? Firstly, what the name 'Peter' insinuates, alone. Secondly, pair that with the word 'underpants' (get it?) and you instantly get a mental image. Or I do, anyway.

To me, 'underpants' is one of those words with specific gender representation, like 'panties,' or 'tighty-whiteys,' or 'thong,' although that last one has enjoyed increasing gender equality in the last decade or so.

Oh, and 'manties.'

Anyway.

Cheryl's comment reminded me of a clothing label I happened to stumble upon years ago while in Japan - "Favorite Peter." The tags on the inside of their sweatshirts said "Favorite Peter." The label tags also featured a little cartoon logo of a boy sporting spiky bangs and a backwards baseball cap. It was cute, it was youthful, and it was sooo Japanese. It was me! (back then, a dozen years ago, I was still able to pull off "cute and youthful." Now I'm just Japanese)

I must have bought a half dozen of those shirts, some that had "Favorite Peter" blazoned across the front, and some that merely had "Peter" above the cartoon-boy-logo. People thought I had them custom made.

And I found a souvenir sweatshirt in Japan for my brother, Danny. It also had a cutesy cartoon boy, which was more of a stick-figure drawing. Below the smiling stick boy was "Danny First" in large letters.

"We can't both wear our shirts," he said to me, once I was back home and as we were preparing to leave for a family get-together. "One narcissistic brother is amusing. Two is just obnoxious."

When people commented on my sweatshirt, I would usually respond with, "Everyone has a favorite peter, whether their own or someone else's."

Okay, so maybe that's being a little phallo-centric. It's likely that Cheryl doesn't have one, a favorite peter, that is. Unless she wants to count me.