[sebakoole]

I'm sure there was probably a thread like this before the BS crash, but since I can't find one post-crash I'd like to get people's input on this subject. I'm putting this in the Business & Media forum
because that's where the contrasts in terminology seem to be most pronounced (so to speak). I'm just curious what terms you use, when you started using them and where you learned them from. I grew up in the late 70's in a suburb of DC and learned my vocab from my coaches. They used shoes instead of boots, field instead of pitch, zero-zero instead of nil-nil, etc. I'm sure there are some out there who grew up at about the same time, but maybe had non-American coaches who used the British-English words. I don't have any preference nor do I have any axe to grind, but I would like to hear from those who do have a preference and who do have an axe to grind and why that is.

[GoDC]

You are doing the right thing. Speak American, not English.

[notebook]

Originally posted by GoDC
You are doing the right thing. Speak American, not English.

I agree. All the English terms and colloquialisms (sp?) sound alright, even kind of cool, coming from a Brit, but sound like affectations when they come from an American. Makes the person sound like a wannabe. And why would we want to be anything but American?

[QPR Kevin H]

Here we ************ing go. I say this thread lasts about 6 posts before being moved or locked.

Say whatever you want - as long as people know what you're talking about. And dont worry about what other people are saying, unless you dont know what they're talking about.

[Godot22]

I think that some words like "pitch" and "nil" are so ingrained into the culture of the game in English-speaking countries that they don't sound terribly affected. More obscure ones, like "kit" or "strip" instead of "uniform" are probably worth avoiding, unless you're saying them just to get people to ask what you mean, which is pretty much affected speech in a nutshell.

As for the biggie, the usage conflict which launched a thousand pointless tirades: I use the term "football" only when it is clear from the context that I don't mean some other code of football: i.e. rarely to never in America, virtually always in Europe.

[bungadiri]

For starters, I think this thread will get more responses in the Rivalry or Beautiful Game forum.

I began playing soccer as an adult, in the US, among, primarily, Irishmen. Apart from being just about the most forgiving teammates imaginable (and they had to forgive a lot), they didn't really affect the terms I use talk about the game.

I use a mixture.
On the American side:
I say field instead of pitch, cleats (or flats) instead of shoes or boots, zero instead of nil (unless I'm giving my Welsh teammate a hard time). I say soccer instead of football, unless I'm talking to non-Americans and then I say football hoping that's clearer. Actually, I used to say football to non Americans, but this is so frequently followed by them asking "do you mean soccer or American football?" that lately I have been sticking exclusively to "soccer".

On the English side:
I say out of touch instead of out of bounds, because I like the sound of it and because it automatically implies a throw-in rather than a corner/goal kick. I've recently been persuaded by my reading on BS and elsewhere to refer to the "game" of soccer, generally, and call a particular instantiation of that game "a match". I like this because it seems logical to make that difference.

And, generally speaking, I am with Sebakoole in not having an ax to grind about soccer terms. However, I do think that people who spell it "axe" instead of "ax" are pretentious *********************s.

[artigiano]

Originally posted by bungadiri
I say out of touch instead of out of bounds, because I like the sound of it and because it automatically implies a throw-in rather than a corner/goal kick.

I believe the term is actually "into touch". Which is one of the English game terms I avoid using because it is so different from "out of bounds" and does sound a bit pretentious.

I go for the Americanized choices almost exclusively. I even call defenders and mids, fullbacks and halfbacks on occassion because that's the way they taught us as kids back in the 70's and 80's.

My favorite English football term was one I heard during a game where one team blew a two goal lead. Announcer said, "It's all gone pear-shaped." Which I think is a reference to playing with a ball that's out of round.

[Dave216J]

OK, I've been around a lot of European and American soccer/football fans, and use lots of the terms interchangeably, but I was hoping someone could answer a question for me. The other day on a broadcast of a British commentator doing a game, he said that the defense was "at all 6s and 9s." Then I played FIFA 2001 at a friends house, and in the process of getting whooped, the commentators told me that I had "6s and 7s at the back."

What do these expressions mean, or rather (since I gather that they mean the defense sucks) where do the expressions come from?

[DC Forever]

I'm glad to see that us D.C.ers are sticking together on this one. I think that there is a disease of "Mallisnism" in the American soccer fanbase -- a subset of fans who don't want the sport to be part of the mainstream sports world, because they only fell in love with it at first because it made them feel superior to other people.
It becomes even more grating in the voices of non-soccer announcers or commentators who think that they have to use that kind of language to talk about the game.

English people say "nil" not because that's the "proper football term" but because that's the English colloqiolism for nothing. It makes sense from them. It doesn't from George Michael.

I'm a D.C. United fan (not supporter) who loves to go cheer on the team (not side) Saturday night then go strap on my cleats (not boots) Sunday afternoon for a good pick-up game (not kickabout) on the local soccer field (you get my point).

I am, however, more than happy to punctuate these activities with a Guiness. Patriotism only goes so far.

[Frieslander]

I use English and American terms pretty interchangebly. What I don't like is when people say "kit" or "strip," as previously mentioned. My reason for this though is that I believe people normally use it incorrectly. I've been led to believe that "kit" and "strip" are supposed to me the entire uniform, but most Americans seem to be refering only to the shirt. On the otherside of the coin, I hate the american term "jersey" because when I read the thread title, "west ham gets new jersey" I get all confused cause I'm from New Jersey. I just say shirt.