[SLANG:53] Panna

[Cohen, Gerald Leonard]

This may or may not help.  I did some googling and found that panna is not only  a "nutmeg" but also soccer as played on city squares and involving individual tricks/stunts. The more skill in these stunts, the greater the respect won.
Now, there's a famous Thai stuntman named Panna Rittikrai, and I suppose that the youngsters who see him on film were inspired to take his name as symbolizing a supreme stunt--humiliating the opponent by dribbling the ball through his legs.

Gerald Cohen

> ----------
> From:         slang at leicester.ac.uk on behalf of Paul Heacock
> Reply To:     slang at leicester.ac.uk
> Sent:         Friday, March 18, 2005 4:06 PM
> To:   Multiple recipients of list SLANG
> Subject:      [SLANG:53] Re: Panna
>
> I asked a soccer-savvy American friend if he's ever heard of the term
> "panna," and he hadn't. When I told him what it meant, he said, "Oh, a
> nutmeg." He thought panna sounded Spanish or Italian, and said he'd ask
> some Spanish-speaking footballers about it. I'll report back if I hear
> anything more.
>
> Cheers
> Paul
>
> Paul Heacock
> ELT Electronic Publishing & Publishing Systems Manager
> Cambridge University Press
>
>
>
>