Merle, Peterman

[Michael Lee Bailey]

Laura wrote of a possible correspondence between my
nice-guy persona and Merle in ATD.  

...on a good day, my real personality _is_
largely the nice-guy persona...

Merle's career seems admirable in almost all its phases.  
If there's something I'm as crazy about as Merle is about 
photography, it's probably literature, although there are
some other recurring manias, come to think of it.

Anyway, thank you, Laura.

Mark and Paul both mentioned the "peterman option"
-- I didn't catch the reference in reading the passage,
not much out there about it.  This is the biggest
passage I found:
http://www.uttertrivia.com/safecrackerpeterman.php

Safecrackers are nicknamed Petermen or a Peterman for two reasons:

The slang for a safe is a Peter which came from Simon Peter 
who was known as the rock of Jesus. It may also come from 
the slang for prison cell which is Peter.

Another religious theory about the origin of the phrase 
Peterman is that a bank robber or safe blower would be 
robbing Peter to pay Paul.

The chemical Saltpetre (potassium nitrate) was used 
as an explosive during safe blowing by villains. A 
villain who used it was known as a Petre and this soon 
became Peterman.

Another theory is that it is London Cockney 
rhyming slang for safe from the phrase Peter Quaife 
who was the founding member and the original bass g
uitarist for the group The Kinks. It was adopted by 
bank robbers.