6 Unanswered Questions We Have About The Peppa Pig Universe
Peppa Pig just seeps into family life. You can be insistent you’re not going to watch it, but via some kind of cultural osmosis, it happens, and suddenly your toddler wants Peppa, Peppa, Peppa, all the time. Even with the best will in the world, one can suddenly find oneself eight episodes in, tired and confused.
In this era of Prestige TV, adult viewers are used to detailed episode recaps, complex mythology and intricate world-building (think Game Of Thrones). With most of the TV we watch, we analyse the hell out of after – so how can we not do that when we’re watching Peppa Pig?
Here are just some of the questions I’ve been left pondering after watching that famous pig on telly.
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1. How exactly do names work?
In the world of Peppa Pig, everyone has their species as their surname, which automatically makes some of the customs we have around names redundant: Mummy Pig’s maiden name was Pig, and her married name is Pig. That’s one in the eye for patrilineality: good stuff.
Children all have names beginning with the same letter as their surname (and therefore, species) – Peppa Pig, Suzy Sheep and so on – apart from Peppa’s brother, George Pig. Why does George buck the trend?
Adults’ names seem to be determined based on their parental status, an unusual societal development. Daddy Pig’s name is Daddy Pig. What was his name before having a child? And if Peppa or George have a child while Grandpa Pig is still alive, will Daddy Pig’s name change to Grandpa Pig, and Grandpa Pig’s to Great-Grandpa Pig?
Childless adults are named after their job – Police Officer Panda and Dr Brown Bear, for instance – but if they have jobs without titles they use standard honorifics, like Mr Bull, Miss Rabbit and so on. But at what point do non-parent animals go from using a real first name to...
