Sally and Linus.
Sweet Babboo is a pet name that Sally calls her crush Linus. Sally first calls Linus by the name in the strip from January 27, 1977. Before this, Sally would simply refer to Linus as either her "boyfriend" or her "future husband".
This pet name seems to annoy Linus. Almost any time Sally mentions that Linus is her Sweet Babboo, Linus screams, "I'm not your Sweet Babboo!", either onscreen or off-screen.
Once, when Linus was not around, Sally mentioned something to Charlie Brown about Linus being her Sweet Babboo. Linus called her over the phone, and told her "I'm not your Sweet Babboo!". He does it again when Sally writes a letter and starts it "Dear Sweet Babboo".
Snoopy is confused by the pet name.
In the strip from February 11, 1991, Sally refers to herself as Linus' "Sweet Babbooette", to which Linus responded, "I've never heard of a 'Babbooette'!" In the strip from February 15, 1983, when Sally gets so annoyed about Linus ignoring her, she calls him her "Sweet N' Sour Babboo".
The only other character who called Linus "My Sweet Babboo", was Eudora in the October 14, 1978 strip, to which Sally called out, "He's not your Sweet Babboo!". Eudora calling Linus her Sweet Babboo, did not seem to annoy Linus that much.
In the strip from February 12, 1995, when Sally asks Rerun to deliver her Valentine to Linus, Rerun misreads it as "Sweet Baboon", to which Sally corrects him by saying "Babboo" and explains what a "Babboo" is. A frustrated Sally gives the card to Snoopy, who also doesn't know the word.
The first time Sally calls Linus her "Sweet Babboo", from January 27, 1977.
In the strip from December 20, 1998 (later adapted as a scene in Charlie Brown's Christmas Tales), Charlie Brown makes a Christmas card for the Little Red-Haired Girl, writing on the card, "Merry Christmas, from your Sweet Babboo", to the annoyance of Linus. An embarrassed Charlie Brown explains "It's a family expression".
Behind the scenes[]
- The gag was inspired by Schulz's second wife, Jean Schulz, who called her husband the same thing.