# "Peoria collar" as a clothing insult? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [January 31, 2019, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoria-collar-as-a-clothing-insult/828732 "2019-01-31T15:59:39Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoria-collar-as-a-clothing-insult/828732/1 "2019-01-31T15:59:39Z")
I recently heard a musical from about 1966 called “It’s A Bird, It’s A Plane, It’s Superman!” which is largely terrible. Anyway, in the midst of this, they introduced a young Linda Lavin as the bad guy’s secretary (named, inexplicably, Sydney. She was sort of a somewhat more horny Miss Techmacher). Sydney had the serious hots for Clark Kent but thought his look was totally square. I get the references except one. I’m going to reproduce the first verse and a bit so you can see the context: Sydney (playing with the buttons on Clark’s shirt, removing his tie, etc. He’s got his Superman uniform on underneath): _Haircut? Simply terrible. Necktie? The worst Bearing? Just unbearable. What to tackle first? Still, you’ve got possibilities though you’re horribly square. I see possibilities…underneath, there’s something there. **Collar? Pure Peoria.** That hat? Oh no! I’m not Queen Victoria That suit has to go Still you’ve got possibilities…etc_ So…what is a collar that’s “Pure Peoria”? I mean, I get it from context that it’s boring/stale/square. But what does it look like? Has anyone heard this expression before? ---
**Author:** ![Telperion](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/telperion/32/509_2.png) [@Telperion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Telperion)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoria-collar-as-a-clothing-insult/828732/2 "2019-01-31T16:09:06Z")
I’d guess it’s from the older meaning in [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_it_play_in_Peoria%3F) phrase: dull, banal, and provincial. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 4:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoria-collar-as-a-clothing-insult/828732/3 "2019-01-31T16:14:44Z")
> [@Telperion](#): > > I’d guess it’s from the older meaning in [this](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Will_it_play_in_Peoria%3F) phrase: dull, banal, and provincial. I agree – while the term isn’t used much anymore, I think it was pretty common in that era, meaning exactly that. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 4:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoria-collar-as-a-clothing-insult/828732/4 "2019-01-31T16:19:11Z")
That makes a lot of sense. I was thinking along the lines of “Brooks Brothers suit” or “Arrow Collar” like it was a style. Both of your explanations make much more sense. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoria-collar-as-a-clothing-insult/828732/5 "2019-01-31T18:05:51Z")
Yeah, I don’t think it’s a specific style. She’s just saying it’s the sort of thing they’d wear in Flyover Country. ---
**Author:** ![Grey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/b782af/32.png) [@Grey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grey)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoria-collar-as-a-clothing-insult/828732/6 "2019-01-31T18:15:11Z")
:golf clap: ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 6:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoria-collar-as-a-clothing-insult/828732/7 "2019-01-31T18:17:05Z")
Another way of saying, “Podunk”. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoria-collar-as-a-clothing-insult/828732/8 "2019-01-31T21:23:34Z")
I thought “Peoria collar” referred to when someone got busted by a narc, and it turned out they were in possession of fake weed. ---
**Author:** ![Ponch8](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ponch8/32/9883_2.png) [@Ponch8](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ponch8)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoria-collar-as-a-clothing-insult/828732/9 "2019-01-31T21:34:57Z")
I was born and raised there and never heard the expression. Obviously I have heard “will it play in Peoria” many times, though. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2019, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoria-collar-as-a-clothing-insult/828732/10 "2019-01-31T22:32:11Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > I thought “Peoria collar” referred to when someone got busted by a narc, and it turned out they were in possession of fake weed. If so, it’s such an obscure term that it doesn’t show up on the first five pages of a Google search on “Peoria collar.” ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoria-collar-as-a-clothing-insult/828732/11 "2019-02-01T00:32:16Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > If so, it’s such an obscure term that it doesn’t show up on the first five pages of a Google search on “Peoria collar.” It had better be obscure since I made it up. \*“That’s a _joke_, son.” ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoria-collar-as-a-clothing-insult/828732/12 "2019-02-01T00:49:59Z")
> [@Jackmannii](#): > > It had better be obscure since I made it up. > > \*“That’s a _joke_, son.” _delayed duck as something whooshed over me_ Well, now, you need to add that to Urban Dictionary. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![digs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/digs/32/14889_2.png) [@digs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/digs)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoria-collar-as-a-clothing-insult/828732/13 "2019-02-01T03:23:27Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > Well, now, you need to add that to Urban Dictionary. Is that like the Urban Sombrero? The J. Peterman catalog says that’s the perfect accessory to go with a Peoria Collar. ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 12:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoria-collar-as-a-clothing-insult/828732/14 "2019-02-01T12:27:10Z")
Now I’m stuck with the song “Marching To Pretoria” in my head. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoria-collar-as-a-clothing-insult/828732/15 "2019-02-01T13:44:04Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > Now I’m stuck with the song “Marching To Pretoria” in my head. The Smothers Brothers version… ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoria-collar-as-a-clothing-insult/828732/16 "2019-02-01T14:27:26Z")
> [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > The Smothers Brothers version… Yes!!! ---
**Author:** ![Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slow_moving_vehicle/32/291_2.png) [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slow_Moving_Vehicle)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 2:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoria-collar-as-a-clothing-insult/828732/17 "2019-02-01T14:35:04Z")
About thirty years ago, when I was a teenager, my cousins came to visit from rural North Carolina. One night we went out to eat at a fairly nice steakhouse. The host saw my blue-jeaned and hoodied cousins come in and said “I guess the train just got in from Peoria”. Don’t know if they got the insult, but I certainly did. Anyway, the “Peoria = dull, provincial, and unsophisicated” meme was current as late as the mid-1980s. In the OP’s musical, Sydney is calling Clark Kent a rube. ---
**Author:** ![Kent\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kent_clark/32/105_2.png) [@Kent\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kent_Clark)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 3:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoria-collar-as-a-clothing-insult/828732/18 "2019-02-01T15:25:43Z")
> [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > the “Peoria = dull, provincial, and unsophisicated” meme was current as late as the mid-1980s. Have you seen Peoria lately? It’s still dull, provincial, and unsophisticated. Except now it has a casino. ---
**Author:** ![BrotherCadfael](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/977dab/32.png) [@BrotherCadfael](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrotherCadfael)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 6:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoria-collar-as-a-clothing-insult/828732/19 "2019-02-01T18:30:44Z")
> [@kayaker](#): > > > [@BrotherCadfael](#): > > > > The Smothers Brothers version… > > Yes!!! Oh, we are _skipping_ to Pretoria… ---
**Author:** ![ThisSpaceForRent](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thisspaceforrent/32/345_2.png) [@ThisSpaceForRent](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThisSpaceForRent)\ **Post date:** [February 1, 2019, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoria-collar-as-a-clothing-insult/828732/20 "2019-02-01T21:01:15Z")
[Pretoria](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=niBn5vKnsaQ) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peoria-collar-as-a-clothing-insult/828732.md?page=2)