If I’m talking to an English speaker from outside of the US, is there any confusion if I say “soccer”?
For example, when I was in college a friend asked for a “torch”. I was confused for quite some time, because I didn’t know it was another word for “flashlight”. Does the same thing happen with the word “soccer”? Should I clarify by saying, “…or football”?
Thank you!
It would require more research than I’m willing to do, but the only part of that article that set off my sports-history-nerd Spidey Sense was this:
I don’t know that anyone actually involved in playing or codifying the game ever used “gridiron football” in anything like the same official way that Association football or Rugby football were used. It feels much more like outside observers trying to impose logical categories from afar, British exceptionalism at its finest. AFAIK, gridiron was always used as a nickname for the field, and the sport itself was only ever widely referred to as “football,” American exceptionalism at its finest.
I’d have to say American Exceptionalism at its finest when it comes to sports is the World Series.