THE PETER PANIC

No matter how popular the Peter Pan story is, most folks get funny about real life people who don't grow up. A lot of the real world Peter Pans are shunned by their communities, and many even end up in prison.

It seems to me that people place an undue amount of emphasis on growing up. "Come on, be mature, get a job, stop having fun."

And people have those stock phrases when they think someone's being immature...

"He's got a lot of growing up to do?" What is he, a dwarf?

"Act your age, not your shoe size." Yeah, just act your age. Don't be it - just kinda pretend what it would be like to be that age while this person is around. That one doesn't really work on clowns, of course.

"C'mon, Krusty - act your age, not your shoe size."

"What?! I'm 33 years old and I'm wearing size 97-wide here! What do you want me to do? Go round with a Zimmer frame? Eurgh!"