A word about the word “soccer.”
The word “soccer” is a British invention, so the word originates from the place where soccer originated:
England
Soccer was originally known as Association Football, distinguishing it from Rugby Football, which was also being developed at the time.
For a time, both games were nearly the same until rules differentiated them.
At elite British universities like the University of Oxford, students had a habit of shortening words and adding the letters “er” to the end.
For example:
- “Rugby” became rugger
- “Association” became assoc, then it became soccer
So “soccer” is literally short for “Association Football.”
When soccer came to America, football was already played, so Americans adopted the British term “soccer” to avoid confusion between the two.
To do otherwise would’ve been asinine.
That is why Americans refer to the sport as “soccer” while much of the world still uses “football.”
In fact, for much of the early twentieth century, British newspapers and even players regularly used both “football” and “soccer” when referring to the sport.
Starting in the 1970s and 1980s, however, “soccer” began to sound increasingly American to British ears, which the Brits did not like, so they began avoiding the word “soccer” and latched onto “football.”
So when a soccer snob tries to correct you when calling the game “soccer” or explain to you that the rest of the world calls it “football,” you can ignore them because they are arrogant pricks, or you can explain that you are using an original British word for the sport, which was an abbreviation of Association Football, and it was only in the 1970s and 1980s. when the Brits’ appreciation for how Americans saved them from Hitler waned, that the term “football” became the exclusive way to refer to the sport.
Besides, it would be stupid for Americans to refer to soccer as football.
Our most popular sport is already called football. Having two footballs played at the same time would simply be confusing and unnecessary, especially since soccer is a perfectly viable and historically recognized term for the sport.
Just another admittedly tiny reason why I don’t love soccer.
Go Team USA!
