When I tell you it was the size of a peanut, what image comes to mind? The whole peanut shell before you crack it open, or the little tasty nut inside?
Illustrations to help you make an informed decision:
Whole peanut.
After a laughably long discussion on this subject last night, my husband and I have agreed to disagree. I say whole shell, and he says inner nut.
What do you think?
(poll on its way)
I agree with your husband. This was a topic at last month’s meeting.
Sorry, I agree with your husband.
If I meant the whole thing, I’d probably say: ‘the size of a peanut shell’.
The whole peanut image came to mind upon reading your title.
I saw a shell
I’ve always thought of it as the whole shell.
My first thought was of the whole peanut, complete with shell.
Peanut, sans shell.
Quick - how big is “pea sized”? Surely you’re not thinking of this.
Are there not two peanuts inside each shell? So when you say “size of a peanut” I think of A peanut, not the shell containing two. Y’know, the ones that are sold in bags labelled “peanuts”.
And the wording of your question is bias.
You do have a valid point. Maybe it’s because the vast majority of my encounters with “peas” have involved these guys, so it’s the default image in my mind.
Besides, a naked (out of the shell) peanut is so close to pea-sized, that if someone said “peanut-sized” and meant the little peanut, I’d wonder why they didn’t just go with peas.
I thought of the shell. Logic be damned!
To be precise it’s 6 7/8. 
I suppose you mean the part where I say “the whole peanut (shell)”? I just didn’t know what else to call it. If you see one of these on the table, will you say “oh look, peanuts?” I’m pretty sure most folks would look at it and call it “a peanut”. But then, if it was one of these on the table, people would also say “a peanut”. That’s why I’m asking the question. Both can be safely called “a peanut” - I’m trying to see which of the possibilities is first to pop into people’s minds when the word is given to them.
Judging from this pic, I’d say about two feet.
I don’t think I’ve ever heard of anything compared to the size of a peanut before. Peas, yes, but…
You mean, like this?
Lumps.
Breast, ovarian, hemorrhoids, fibroids, tumors, cysts…any lump will inevitably be described as ______ sized.
Lumps apparently come in (in ascending order): pea sized, peanut sized, the size of a ping-pong ball (never “ping-pong ball sized”), golf ball sized, baseball sized, softball sized, grapefruit sized and the size of a basketball.
Any bigger than a basketball, and people just tell you in pounds. “A 23 pound tumor! Fekkin’ 23 pounds!”
Um, no. Tumors and the like are all compared to fruit. Hail is compared to sports equipment.
We’re expecting pommel-horse sized hail, so if you have a subway tunnel to take shelter in, I strongly advise it.
