Jane Stephenson, age 8, of Tacoma, Wash., for his question:

HOW DID THE GUNNY SACK GET ITS NAME?

Made of burlap, yesteryear's unglamorous gunny sack was used to sack potatoes in, hold cotton bales together or double as a makeshift clothing bag. Modern home decorators, however, have utilized this coarse, rough material in a surprising number of ways  for place mats, wall hangings, pillows and lamp shades, to name a few.

Gunny itself is a strong coarse material made from the jute plant. Its long, soft, shiny fibers can be spun into threads to provide one of the least expensive natural fibers. Jute grows best in warm, humid climates. Although currently produced in many countries, at one time most jute came from India where it was used to manufacture sacking material. The Hindu word for sack or bag is "goni." In time the material itself came to be called goni, which was Anglicized to gunny.