I do happen to agree with Three Apples and others who say that a ball can be either round or oval. However, as far as I can find, this post is the first mention of that subject that I've made in this entire 17-zillion-page thread, so I don't know what efforts you are talking about. However, maybe I am so transparent that you can figure out my efforts even before I make them. After all, you were right about my opinion. Just to complicate this seminar on geometry, here is a quote from Brian Glanville's book "The Story of the World Cup," about a goal during the Brazil-Argentina game at the 1982 World Cup: Serginho rose to the cross and headed in, thus briefly giving the lie to the Brazilian critic who had said 'When Serginho plays, the ball is square.' I presume that this critic was not insulting your favorite player, since Serginho never played for Flamengo. Most of the clubs he played for seem to have been from Sao Paulo. However, the source where I looked that up is in English, so I suppose it can't be trusted.
The 'slippery egg' image was a mere metaphore. Or, to be more precise, a synecdoche (part for the whole). The oval object is just the tip off the iceberg (although tips of icebergs are usually triangles, but forget it ), a partial icon of the complete image that (being directly mentioned or not) always underlied this discussion. lol I couldn't agree more with the critic Brian Glanville cited. Shame on us to have produced someone like Serginho who conspurcated the perfectly round, circular & almost mystical form of the ball with his awkward moves. Yes, he made that ball go 'square'. Sorry, world. Not at all - the source is correct. Herectic Serginho was from São Paulo FC. Even if he were Flamengo though, I'd be with the critic.
Wow. In discussing Glanville (indirectly), you've used a word so obscure that even he's probably never considered using it. It is both manifest and ineluctable that there aren't many of those. Glanville would be green with envy, kind of like this smily. BTW, because of your use of the word "mystical," I think I now understand why you don't think a ball can be oval. It's a bit like the way some people worship pyramids. Soccer/football as religion and roundness as an icon. That sort of thing.
This is an endless thread. It'll only slow down when one of the terms subdues the other. Very difficult IMO a lasting harmony. The tendency is for 'soccer' to be the victim - even (& IMO in a not so much distant future) in US.
The British are not that ignorant about the term "soccer", is just that in any other language is called "football", so they just adopted it into their own. http://tinyurl.com/y8rzbt8
[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2sD_8prYOxo&feature=related"]YouTube- John Cleese rants - Soccer vs Football[/ame] on the subject, obviosly exagerated, but funny.
I'm surprised he doesn't know the history of football in total (Soccer>Rugby>American/Canadian football), especially in light of the fact that it was the Brits who coined the word "soccer" in the first place . He probably does, but used this as a chance to get a dig in at America. Probably all in fun, but nevertheless... Oh, well. I still think Cleese is a real hoot; I like just about everything he's ever done (even the accounting video i saw in college).
I know I'm extremely late to the party and all, but I figured I'd share my rather uninteresting thoughts. I call the game soccer. It's what I grew up calling it and I doubt that's a habit that will ever die. Just the same, American Football is simply football to me and that will never change. I also don't see why there always seems to be so much butthurt over the topic from people (at least internet people). It's not like the term soccer desecrates the "beautiful game." Like they said in Rome and Juliet, "A rose by any other name is just as beautiful" and all that.
I don't know: give a beautiful rose to a lady saying that is a cabbage & see if the effect is the same.
Actually, that wasn't funny at all, it was pretty much retarded, in fact I feel a little more retarded for having watched it.
Meh. I've watched the entire one-hour special that bit was from; that wasn't one of the parts I particularly liked, but on the whole we enjoyed it (me, the wife, our then-10-year-old son).
I think we should call it football. I don't have a reason for this, except so that soccerreform.us will have to change his screenname to footballreform.us and start his crusade all over.
Maybe because it was called football here too, before gridiron took the label, and the USSF only dropped the word about sixty years ago. Or maybe because it's played with the feet, and the english prefer to use a term for it that reflects the game.
By the way I was watching either GolTV or Fox Soccer Channel one day, and the guys kept saying football football, and my 7 years old daugter asked me that's football? I told her that is what it's called in the world wide.