peterman - noun - a person who breaks open and robs safes (Lexico.com)
I came across peterman while scrolling down Lexico.com's list of "Weird and Wonderful Words." If I don't borrow a word from a book that I am reading (I know what you mean. Who reads books these days?), then I get it from the site. According to Google, the word might have originated in Peterhead prison, which was alive and well from 1888 until 2013 in Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Apparently, the place housed quite a few culprits whose specialty was safe-breaking. The term jumped out at me from the litany of other rarely used words because I am, at present, digesting a new release by Fredrik Blackman called Anxious People. One of the main characters is a would-be bank robber who never quite robs a bank because it is one that does not possess a safe with any legal tender housed in it. However, he manages to hold a number of innocent people hostage at an open house apartment showing that all are hoping to purchase, separately, of course. The irony of the whole thing is that technically the nascent thief, who is an unfortunate dad just needing to pay rent, is really quite innocent. Yet the police are actively looking for him. Yes, the author got over three hundred pages out of this premise. In any case, the story is quite amusing, reminding the reader that perhaps criminals may not be all that bad after all, just misguided or in dire straits one way or another.
I think Blackman has the right idea overall because I am one who would like to think that people are good at heart and not the opposite. Okay, yes, I'm the optimist, but there are quite a few of us around thinking the same thing. Care to join us?
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