That little basket that your strawberries and blueberries come in? It’s called a punnet. Just so you know. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “Punnet”
For some reason, Martha, I’ve been coming across a lot of terms for containers.
You have?
Yeah, but there’s some interesting language here.
Like, do you know what a carboy is?
Carboy, sure I do.
It’s a jug for brewing beer.
Yeah, it’s pretty cool.
I used to do that.
It’s a glass jug, right?
Yeah.
Carboy, but it’s a strange term.
Yeah, I’m forgetting the etymology.
I’m not sure either.
I think it might come from a Persian word.
Oh, really?
Probably through French, though.
Too English for through French from Persian.
All right.
And then the other one is, let me ask you if you know what a punnet is.
P-U-N-N-E-T.
Punnet.
Like a punnet square?
Isn’t that in genetics or something?
Oh, I don’t know.
I think that’s from a name.
I don’t think this is from a name.
Okay.
Then no, I don’t know what a punnet is.
You know those little baskets that blueberries and strawberries are sold in?
That’s a punnet.
Oh, really?
Yeah.
It’s a cool word, right?
Oh, now I like that.
So you might have a punnet of strawberries.
Oh.
Who knew that words for containers were so cool?
Give us a call with the strange words that you’ve encountered, 877-929-9673, or send an email to words@waywordradio.org.
