Obviously, this is not the first time penis and peanuts have been confused.
I recall one very specific example. When I was a very young boy in Rochester, NY, the main baseball rivals of our hometown Red Wings were the nearby Buffalo Bisons, who fielded a banjo-hitting outfielder named “Peanuts” Lowrey. He had been in pro ball since the 1930s, was a major league starter for many years, and was still coaching in the National League in the 1980s, but when I knew of ol’ Peanuts, he was nearly 40, hanging on in the minors, as many former big leaguers did in those days. I never got out to the ballpark when I was that age, so everything I knew about baseball came from the radio, and for years, I continued to believe that our radio announcer had been calling him “Penis” Lowrey. When I finally saw his 1954 card, I was bewildered by his having signed it “P-Nuts,” which may or may not have been some slightly off-color joke that I did not understand, and probably never will.
There was a kid I went to highschool with that somehow or another picked up the nickname “Penis.” I don’t recall that being meant in a particularly mean spirited way, but then again it wasn’t my nickname and I am not sure how he felt about it. I doubt I would have like it if it were mine. But it did lead to one of the funniest jokes I remember hearing in high school. My high school lacked athletic fields and so during gym class we got to play flag football in the teachers; parking lot. Our quarterback threw a pass that sailed over Penis’ head. He was on the short side. I suppose if he were bigger he wouldn’t have received that particular nickname. Anyway, the ball sailed over his head and someone yelled out, “Penis, you would have caught that of you’d been erect!” It’s sad that almost 40 years later I remember that joke, but don’t remember the kid’s real name.
One of the single funniest riffs in the history of MST3K, from “A Touch Of Satan”:
“I really hope he said peanuts…”