Yesssss…in American football, a punt is an action or a play that happens when a team is down to it’s last attempt to move the ball to a certain yard line. If they succeed, they earn more plays but if they fail, the opponent gains possession at the spot.
A punt is a special play where the possessing team drop kicks the ball, using their last play to give the ball to the other team, but the drop kick sends the ball a long distance down the field. A good punter is often capable of sending the ball 50+ yards down field, as well as gauging distance and direction so that the ball gets close to the end of the field without going over (which resets its location much closer to the starting point). While scoring points is obviously usually the better outcome, a good punter is invaluable to any team.
Because of the American football maneuver, you’ll also hear Americans using the term “punt” in other contexts as well, frequently in a business setting.
Because a punt in football is effectively saying, “Achieving success in the short term is impossible, impractical, or just too much of a hassle…so we’re going to forget pursuing it for now and we’ll try to score again later.”… you often hear things in a meeting at work where maybe there’s some sort of an opportunity that for whatever reason, the team or company isn’t ideally positioned to take advantage of, so they’ll say, “Ehhh, let’s punt on that issue.”
Does punt mean kick in American or something then?
Yesssss…in American football, a punt is an action or a play that happens when a team is down to it’s last attempt to move the ball to a certain yard line. If they succeed, they earn more plays but if they fail, the opponent gains possession at the spot.
A punt is a special play where the possessing team drop kicks the ball, using their last play to give the ball to the other team, but the drop kick sends the ball a long distance down the field. A good punter is often capable of sending the ball 50+ yards down field, as well as gauging distance and direction so that the ball gets close to the end of the field without going over (which resets its location much closer to the starting point). While scoring points is obviously usually the better outcome, a good punter is invaluable to any team.
There’s a bit more to it, but that’s the gist.
Today I learnt.
As a Brit I never thought of anything other than one of these stupid posh kid boats
Because of the American football maneuver, you’ll also hear Americans using the term “punt” in other contexts as well, frequently in a business setting.
Because a punt in football is effectively saying, “Achieving success in the short term is impossible, impractical, or just too much of a hassle…so we’re going to forget pursuing it for now and we’ll try to score again later.”… you often hear things in a meeting at work where maybe there’s some sort of an opportunity that for whatever reason, the team or company isn’t ideally positioned to take advantage of, so they’ll say, “Ehhh, let’s punt on that issue.”
We also use it in gaming to say you made a silly mistake that costed you the victory.
You also punt in rugby.
Oh goodness, yes you do.