Spyke
lemmy.world

Most of the world calls it football because feet and ball. American football is usually referred to as commercials or ads.

79
tomi000reply
lemmy.world

It seems so stupid to me that Americans took over the name football for a sport thats not even mainly played by foot, and then pretend like thats the sport that naturally belongs to the name. Like wtf.

21

This is why the fuck: american football evolved from Association Football (soccer) and rugby. Americans didn't take over the name, the names for each version of the "ball game on a field with goals at either end" developed from different regional slang as each sport evolved and grew into popularity in their respective places. Each of those sports developed various shortened or slang versions of their name. Rugby was really Rugby football. Association football became soccer, a term coined in London and adopted by Americans. Gridiron football evolved from both and become what Americans just called football.

17
bstixreply
feddit.dk

Etymology-wise, football is actually called football because it's done on foot as opposed to on horse.

15

Oh that makes sense! Polo shirts have that little horse guy on them sometimes.

4

pretty sure england called it soccer before america.....and football is the better sport its just facts

-5
feddit.uk

Americans when you call it "rugby for girls" and not "runny jumpy catch between adverts":

42
gmtomreply
lemmy.world

Womens rugby is infinitely better than American Football

10
lemmy.world

I can't even imagine a more ridiculously bad take. Ur bad boooooo. Clearly don't respect women either. MMA is the only entertaining sport. All others are adults playing children's games.

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bitjunkiereply
lemmy.world

Search "brutal NFL hits" on YouTube and tell me again why you think a bunch of dudes on their knees hugging and playing reverse tug-of-war is manly

-2
feddit.uk

Check the community, Chuckles!

Besides, I’m a Bears fan, so I’ve seen plenty of footage of Dick Butkus’ hits.

You know, years ago I saw a bit on a UK NFL show where they had a couple of rugby players and a couple of NFL players try each others’ sports.

The NFL players came out of the experience saying “Hell, that game is brutal. They’re big guys and they hit hard, and they don’t wear any padding. No thanks!”

The rugby players came out of the experience saying “Hell, that game is brutal. You’ve got the pads, sure, but that just means everyone hits each other harder! No thanks!”

10
Dozzi92reply
lemmy.world

Perfect summation, only people saying one is tougher than the other do so from the other side of the TV screen.

2
bitjunkiereply
lemmy.world

Yeah I was just returning the energy of the first armchair expert, honestly. Rugby is hardass, too.

2
Bluewingreply
lemmy.world

NFL football players use that armor as a weapon.....

3
jobbiesreply
lemmy.zip

Perhaps, but the whole uniform is so homo-erotic even the ancient Greeks would find it a bit much.

1

It's possible. I would not argue against you. But most sport has those elements.

1

My brother, my fellow American, my friend, rugby is the more intense athletic endeavor.

You have definitely zeroed in on the point that makes football more intense, the big impacts.

Despite rugby having 2-3x higher injury rates, football dwarfs it in fatality rates by like 6x.

However, when you account for the deaths from heat stroke and heart attack caused by overworking a bunch of hypertensive fat dudes ("indirect causes"), they're about equal.

Football just isn't as athletically demanding and doesn't inflict as much constant punishment. It's entirely about that one big BOOM

0
lemmy.world

Brits when you use the word that was invented by Brits for it.

29

Brits use the word because they weren't competent enough at Ōllamaliztli, so they had to invent a lesser sport with no ritual sacrifice.

17
lemmy.world

Football is a sport played all over the world. American Football is only played in the USA and Canada.

Sorry, Americans, but you lost this battle ages ago. Just let it go.

19

Run it by me again... You carry the ball in your hands and run forwards? You occasionally throw it, again using your hands?

What do you call it?

Football.

12
Holytimesreply
sh.itjust.works

Funfact soccer is a British word not an American one. The British popularized it.

The same thing happened with aluminum. The current American way of saying it is actually the original British wah. Since they made it.

The British changed and America just stuck to the original way the British wanted everyone to say it.

So again it's not America who's wrong, it's the British being stupid telling people what to do. Then getting mad when they do it.

0

Fun fact: Freedom fries is an American phrase, so Americans are being stupid when calling them French fries!

1
Bluewingreply
lemmy.world

American football is gaining popularity in Europe and South America at a pretty healthy clip. Enough so that the NFL is now sending teams to play games in those places. They are even starting to consider expanding a couple of teams to Europe in the future. And there are more and more international players starting to get a foothold in the NFL as players.

You might have won a battle, but you could lose still lose the war........

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jobbiesreply
lemmy.zip

They've been at that since the 90's and its never taken off. Why bother when we have Rugby?

2
Bluewingreply
lemmy.world

The numbers say otherwise. If it didn't, they wouldn't bother.

1

The numbers of people who stay up until stupid hours of the night to watch games. And the number of tickets sold to people filling stadiums to capacity when the NFL to others countries. The NFL sent 6 teams to play last year. A game in Ireland, England, and Germany. Plus 2 teams Mexico and Brazil each. And each game was sold out and filled stadiums.

Just like soccer is becoming a much bigger thing in the US, American football IS growing in the rest of the world. And there are some fledgling rugby amateur leagues popping up too. But we still don't play cricket though. Baseball is better. Though I can't prove it

1
lemmy.world

Lol at American football. What a joke. America just trying to be the center of attention everywhere, pushing their shitty head concussions on people they don't even want in their country. As an "American", America sucks big donkey dick. So does American footy ball

0

I'd fully respect the NFL if they started calling it "handegg" instead of football.

jk, I'd still not respect them, but they should totally do it.

2
lemmy.world

There is a lot of interest among Europeans to watch American football, but there isn't really anyone playing it here. I think it's because American football has more complicated rules than rugby 😂

1
Bluewingreply
lemmy.world

There have been a few European players in the NFL. The team I follow, the Minnesota Vikings, have had a number of international players at least tryout for the team. We've had a German wide receiver on the roster for 2 years, a player from Africa, (I can't remember the country right now), and a couple Aussie and New Zealand kickers. In fact, we will have a punter from Australia this year trying to make the team. And there have been a few Polynesians in the NFL over the years also.

So, American football does have enough worldwide players to draw at least few players. Though almost all attend collage in the US to gain better skills and attention. I wonder if the reason more Europeans don't gain much attention from the NFL is because you generally aren't big enough, (don't feel bad 90% of the world isn't). There is almost a genetic lottery you need to win at birth to even have a start at being good enough.

1
lemmy.world

Aww..feeling insecure that not enough people are playing American football. As if Europeans aren't big enough to even play rugby. Wait until you play against the bigger Eastern Europeans.

1

You are the one trying to shove American football to everyone despite everyone not being interested 🤣

1
thelemmy.club

Yeah, it's like saying we should call rugby "rugger", because that's what the old Etonians called it (I don't know if they still do).

8
feddit.uk

Its Oxford University slang derived from Rugby School slang, rather than Etonian. However, many do still refer to the morning meal as “brekkers” and nakedness as “starkers”, regardless of class.

7

Oh yeah, that's it, Oxford. I learnt about rugger and brekker from The Treasure Seekers books. I've never heard anyone else say brekkers, at least in my area, brekkie is more common.

Now I'm surprised that "starkers" has posh roots.

1
lemmy.world

Pretty sure there is more than one foot involved. Therefore it should be called feetball.

16
lemmy.world

That's why football is called football. There's only one kicker. One foot.

4

See? Here we go.

Soccer - Uses both feet. Should be called feetball.

NFL - Only uses one foot to touch the ball. During punts or feildgoals. Accurately named football.

6

Reference to it with proximity to yanks :

You are the only non yank there : Soccer
There are 60% yanks : Association football
There are 30% or less yanks : football
There are 0% yanks, and 100% Brits that actually like this boring sport : Footy

14

‘Soccer’ is the British word for the sport already. Don’t let them pretend

10

Oi! When I finish this pint after watching old top gear on Dave I’m gonna give you what for you America cunt!

9
lemmy.world

Can we just call it all football!?

  • Ruggers Football
  • Assoccers Football
  • Gridders Football
  • Basketters Netball
  • Softy Rounders Ball
  • Crickers Baseman’s Ball

And let’s have mixed teams

8

Given the original meaning of football is a ball game played on foot rather than on horseback, yes, they are all football.

3
lemmy.world

Soccer was coined by the British, btw. It's your fault we call it that.

6
sh.itjust.works

Ever wondered why it sounds like "sock" but is spelled "soccer"? It's because the British school kids who came up with the name were shortening the word "association". The kind of football that came out of the Rugby School was Rugby Football, and the kind that was managed by The Football Association was Association Football.

Rugby Football became "rugger", Association Football became "assoccer" and eventually "soccer".

Both kinds of football migrated across the Atlantic. The first game played in Toronto was played in 1859, 4 years before the formation of the British Football Association, and the first official Association Football rules. In the USA, "soccer" wasn't officially used for association football until the 1920s. Before that, every regulating association used "football" or "foot ball". Gridiron football obviously comes from Rugby's rules. And, until 1955 the governing body overseeing what eventually became Canada's gridiron football was called the Canadian Rugby Union, long after the rules completely diverged from the "Rugby Football" rules.

Eventually, both sides of the Atlantic dropped the qualifiers for what is now called simply "football". "Rugby football" became "Rugby" basically everywhere. "Association Football" became "Football" in the UK and places where it was the most popular football game, and North America adopted the British slang term "Soccer". The modified version of Rugby Football that used a grid of lines on the field became "Football" in North America, and didn't really get another name elsewhere because it wasn't played anywhere else. Meanwhile, Australia did their typical thing and called their Australian Rules Football game "Footie" and use the British term "soccer" for the Association rules.

Other interesting tidbits:

  • Why does American Football sometimes get called "Gridiron" football? Why grid? Why iron? A gridiron is a surface for cooking over a fire, more often called a "grill" today. The term "grid" comes from a gridiron, which is also related to a griddle. Iron doesn't actually mean "iron", it just comes from association with the metal in the word "griderne" which led to gridiron. So, although parallel lines aren't a "grid" in modern language, they look like a grill, which used to be called a "gridiron"
  • "Soccer" is still occasionally used in England, like in the TV show Soccer Saturday
  • The name "Football" may not come from hitting the ball with a foot. One possible source of the name comes from the game being played on foot. There were early "foot ball" games where it was illegal to kick the ball. This would make sense because the first people to write down the rules for these games were teachers and students at English "Public Schools" (which are the most elite forms of what most of the world would call a private school). They were distinguishing it from ball games played on horseback. But this isn't necessarily clear because the terms "football" "handball" and "hockey" were used as early as 1363.
5
wiesonreply
feddit.org

Just to add to your wonderful list of information:

Soccer as a term was adopted in North America

except for Mexico, Guatemala, Honduras, El Salvador, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Cuba, Belize...

At this point it's easier to say "was adopted by the USA and Canada".

5
lemmy.world

Since when are the countries of Mexico and co. counted as North American countries? Those are Latin American / Central American countries.

1

As far as I know, in none of the continent models (be it 5, 6 or 7 continents) is central America its own continent. It's a region of North America. And Latin America is a cultural-linguistic category.
But feel free to look up "North America" on Wikipedia.

1

Americans when you point out that the word "football" doesn't exclusively refer to gridiron.

4
lemmy.world

How would Americans look when they realize they're using metric units to measure voltage, instead of some base 12 absurdity that is based on the measurements of some royalty?

3

based on the measurements of some royalty

Your royalty, specifically.

1
lemmy.world

Fake British word is probably my all time least favourite genre of meme

3
lemmy.world

I'm not a big fan of goulash.

See? Opinions aren't fun when not asked for.

-2
gmtomreply
lemmy.world

I quite enjoyed your opinion on goulash though

3
slrpnk.net

Boppy, it's fallen to the wayside as of late, wouldn't call it dead as a dodo but it's about on par with things like glaciers and nuance

2

Thats the same face I make when you call them "crossing guards" instead of "lollipop ladies"

2

Ok I know this is irrelevant but this is Baraka from Mortal Kombat and with that mouth nobody can spell a word out of their mouth but surprisingly he does 🤣

2
AxExRxreply
lemmy.world

Football (the genre of games) wasnt named that because you kick the ball, but because it was played on foot, not horseback like polo. Rugby, was originally known as rugby football, after the school it was invented in

11
AxExRxreply
lemmy.world

Golf is a race. Theres not offense or defensive counter play, or intercompetitor strategy it's just race with # strokes replacing the timer.

1
mabeledoreply
lemmy.world

I’m pretty sure races have attacking and defending strategies, though.

1
AxExRxreply
lemmy.world

Only Race sport i can think of is team sailing, where a boat can use right of way to force members of the oppnents fleet off course to secure a better place for his teammates.

1
M137reply
lemmy.today

Objectively wrong. And american "football" makes no sense as a name.

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