That old subject.....

[Geoff Winnington-Ball (RIP)]

Originally posted by Bob Moseley
Hi Keefy and others
No wonder you are confused as our time-warped Winballton can't even spell correctly. PANJI PIT. Basically a hole in the ground with sharpened bamboo stakes facing up to penetrate the feet of people becoming trapped in them. A clever method of inflicting injury that required the logistics of more personnel to remove the wounded as opposed to removing the dead.
Bob

Actually, Bob, my spelling IS allowed. The word comes from the old English "pungent", with the following abridged definition according to Volume II of the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary:

1. Pricking, piercing, sharp-pointed [1601]; 2. Sharp, keen, acute, poignant; causing or inflicting sharp pain; keenly distressing [1597].

The word comes from the Latin pungere. Americans in Viet Nam commonly called them punji sticks or punji pits but I chose the English derivation of the word.