I think that most people assume that since the vast majority of the football-playing world use that term and Americans say soccer - or as it is caricatured by Brits, "siaker" - then we must have invented the word. The roots of this split go back to the mid-1800's when the rules of the game were being codified. For the latter part of that century, several varieties of the game competed for supremacy and adherents with the current format coming out on top; eventually becoming known as Association Football. Other varieties which included rugby and the fore-bearers of American and Australian rules football ended up making their way around the world as well. Soccer was coined as a shortened slang for the word "Association" in Britain and eventually become the preferred term in most nations in which another football format is dominant (ie. Australia and the US).
Thus, the smug correction of the word "soccer" by non-Americans lies not in the fact that they are Euro-centric but in their continued gloating that their version of football has been proven by a century of global test-marketing to be the most exciting and compelling rule-set conceived.
Ok... a mandatory portion of the CM posts is that you must comment and let me know if this was a misconception that you had prior to me "enlightening" you. Anyone?
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ReplyDeleteDYAVID BYECKHAM! Of all your readers, I'll probably be one of the few that knew that already.
ReplyDeleteHenceforth they shall be known as throwball and football (or, world-style kickball).
This might have been a bit of a misconception for me, so thanks for the correction! I remain proud of my love of basketball, which is called that all over.
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