I think this goes back to the old days when the power limits were 1KW on CW
and 2KW PEP on SSB. In reality this was a giant handwaving exercise, with
the assumption being that PEP on SSB is twice the indication on an analog
meter. Also, although not relevent to this discussion, these were INPUT
powers not OUTPUT powers.
On CW, key down power is equal to PEP. On SSB average is somewhat less,
but if you whistle, you see close to PEP on the wattmeter.
I think the fair assumption these days (where everything is PEP) is that
QRP is 5W keydown on CW (easy to measure) and never exceeds 5W (even on a
whistle) on SSB. The opposite argument applies too - buy a peak reading
wattmeter, and there will be no ambiguity; 5W is 5W.
Dave/K8CC
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