Billy Lewinsky Wilmington, Del. Our whole varsity soccer team is wondering where the soccer term ônutmeg,ö which is when you kick the ball between someoneÆs legs, comes from. Mike Woitalla: Billy, thatÆs a great question that I have thought about a lot myself, especially after the 1999 WomenÆs Cup mascot was unveiled as a soccer-playing fox named ôNutmeg.ö Your question spurred me to renew my previous research and I finally found a source that concurred with what my hunch had always been. HereÆs the full definition, with a theory on the wordÆs origin, from ôThe Cassell Soccer Companionö: Nutmeg: To pass the ball between an opposing playerÆs legs and then to retrieve it successfully after running around him. Defenders caught out this way are invariably horribly embarrassed. The word itself was probably inspired by the slang term ônutsö (for testicles). (If you have a question for a Soccer America Magazine editor, click “Q&A with SA Editors” in the left column of the home page under “Interactive.”)