Peppermint Patty and Marcie are two best friends, who are very different. Marcie is an intelligent student, while Peppermint Patty can be very dense in school. Peppermint Patty is athletic, while Marcie is not. Peppermint Patty has a more light-hearted personality, while Marcie is usually serious. Because of these differences, the two of them often annoy each other, and make fun of each other, unlike most other friends in Peanuts. A running gag between them is one of them calling the other weird after making some strange remark. When the two friends get angry at each other the reader never sees them apologize. They are just friends again the next day.
Peppermint Patty's opinion of Marcie[]
Peppermint Patty first met Marcie when she was her camp counselor and went on to become her closest friend. After Marcie became a major character, the two girls mostly appeared together. However, Marcie often irritates Peppermint Patty. At first, Peppermint Patty became annoyed whenever Marcie called her "Sir", and she would continually snap at Marcie, "Stop calling me Sir!" but, eventually by the 1980s, she got used to it, although she still prefers that Marcie not call her "Sir". Peppermint Patty utters, "Stop calling me Sir!" one last time in the November 20, 1988 strip - in which Marcie harasses her by uttering "Sir!" seven times in a row, which leads to a fight in the classroom and ending up in the principal's office. Regardless, she still calls Peppermint Patty "Sir" at times, and the reasons for this nickname are unknown.
Marcie also continuously bothers Peppermint Patty by pestering her about doing her schoolwork. Marcie always makes sure Peppermint Patty reads her books or does her homework. Peppermint Patty hates how Marcie pesters her about it. In one storyline, Marcie continually reminded Peppermint Patty to do her book report, and then when the assignment came due, Marcie realized she forgot to do her own.
Another thing that gets on Peppermint Patty's nerves is how Marcie knows nothing about sports. She is unable to catch a football or shoot a basket and even calls the Super Bowl the "Splendid Bowl". Marcie has shown some (reluctant) skill at baseball.
What annoys Peppermint Patty more than anything is when Marcie tells Charlie Brown she loves him because Peppermint Patty wants to hide her true feelings from him. In one strip, right before Marcie and Peppermint Patty went to camp, Marcie calls Charlie Brown to tell him she loves him, and that makes Peppermint Patty furious.
When they are not fighting, they are pretty good friends. They like hanging out together, and talking at the wall and Peppermint Patty will always stick up for Marcie when a bully bothers her.
Marcie's opinion of Peppermint Patty[]
Marcie, who is considered Peppermint Patty's sidekick, likes hanging out with Peppermint Patty, although she can get on her nerves too. It distresses Marcie how poorly Peppermint Patty does in school, and how she will never do her work. It also bothers Marcie that Peppermint Patty keeps her love for Charlie Brown a secret. However, Marcie looks up to Peppermint Patty.
Trivia[]
- A popular fan theory among readers of the strip is that Peppermint Patty and Marcie are a lesbian couple, due to their close relationship. Schulz himself never addressed this, although in a 1997 interview with Gary Groth he denied viewing "sexuality" as particularly relevant to the strip as he still viewed the characters as little kids. Nonetheless, this theory has persisted in pop culture, with references on television shows such as Saturday Night Live, Scrubs, Family Guy, Robot Chicken, and The Simpsons. On The Big Bang Theory, characters Wolowitz, Raj and Leonard argue about whether the two friends are lesbians—while Raj thinks that Peppermint Patty is the lesbian, Leonard thinks she is just athletic and that Marcie is the lesbian.