Ok I know this is an old subject and its surely been brought up before, but why are so many British people almost in denial or ignorance about the term 'Soccer'? On several places discussing the recent confed cup success, the conversation has almost been invaribly stopped by some English person asking what is 'soccer' and why are we calling it that? Is the education in England about the term really that obscure?
Yes, mainly because there isn't any education about the term. It used to be used regulary up until the 1960s without complaint. My guess would be its association with the NASL and its perceived "Americanisation" of the sport. "Soccer" became the all show and no substance game played "over there", and the word just dropped out of popularity here as a result - negative association and all that. And rather like Amercan spellings (such a "z" in words ending a "zation") or words such as normalcy, which are in fact old English that dropped out of use here, the assumption by many is that the word soccer was an American invention.
I use both terms interchangably. I do prefer football, and I do use it around my teams and so my kids and their parents learn it. But I'm not a snob who looks down on 'soccer' either, and I use that term often as well. I agree that I find it quite humorous when Brits take the p*ss out of us for using 'soccer' when they invented the term though, yes.
yep its soccer for me all day, i give a dang what folk say Im american we have our own football, soccer is good too especially when its football offseason
It's the same, i don't get why people get in pissing contests over this. The English call American Football: Gridiron. I have no problem with this, it's just relativism. Spanish speaking countries used to call the game football and now futbol. What I am saying is that it makes a difference to people who get off making a big stink about it.
calcio, italian voetball, dutch fussball, german english, football etc soccer is just a nickname for the sport..if the americans call with the nickname that's ok for me... for the rest of the world (now australia calls it football too) its football.. yanks must be so happy that england didn't invent the name from first 3 word...ASSociation...
i think its just sort of like an indicator that the USA isnt a huge soccer country that we have our own different term for the sport, and we call something comlpetely different what everyone else calls it.... it makes us seem like we're ignorant hicks
Oh for heaven's sake, we have different names for lots of things. And we have our own football "code" as well. Any reasonably informed soccer fan worldwide should understand that.
"Blowing a ******" has entirely different meanings on both sides of the pond. The first time I heard it, while playing for BP in Alaska (the only yank on the side), I shot beer out of my nose.
Really? Was there a press conference? I'm proud of being an ignorant hick. I can't wait until we win the World Cup. The look on their faces will be wonderful. It'll be just like the episode of Beverly Hillbillies when Jethro finds out he's really good at tennis. Now, I'm about to enjoy some sausage and fries with barbecue sauce. Are you going to suggest that I should have said bangers and chips with gravy? I must be a pure savage, right? What for tha way I talk?
City Dave, Very funny post...I was having a difficult time of it, untill I saw that you are a Cleveland "Toon"...then it all made sense. Keep it up, great stuff!
Umm, no. The Australian federation decided to change from 'soccer' to 'football.' The idea the average Australian has done so is utterly false. It also isn't football in Canada or New Zealand, and to a large extent, not in South Africa or Ireland, either. One could ask why Great Britain isn't joining in with the crowd. Football is played by a variety of codes. Use whatever phrase works in a given situation or location. In general, saying 'football' in North America leads to confusion, and calling the locally prevalent code 'throwball' is childish.
then again, in Australia, rugby league tends to be called "League" and Aussie Rules as Footy, so it's less of a clash (although rugby league fans often call their game Footy as well) I have seen Australian sports sites where the game is called football. There doesn't seem to be quite the same insistence that their sport is "real football", perhaps because they do have their two main codes already.
I'm an American and I don't get why we don't call soccer football. That makes more sense then using "football" to refer to American "football." What does American "football" have to do with the foot? Only two players on an American "football" team use their foot to kick the ball--the kicker and the punter... and those are commonly the least respected two guys on the "football" team. Basketball I can understand Baseball I can understand But football not referring to soccer? I don't get that. American football should have been called tackleball or lineball or something that made more sense.