Why Do Americans Call Football Soccer?

There are certain things that differentiate the British from the Americans.

Americans, for example, measure temperature in Fahrenheit instead of degrees like the British, do not use the metric system, mostly prefer to drive automatic cars, and have their own name for football, which is soccer. Well, here is good news for the Americans reading this: you can blame the British people for this one difference! 

Most people all around the world, including the British call the sport football. However, the name soccer, which Americans use, also originated in Britain around two centuries ago. They were words that were used synonymously by the British even until the 20th century.

It was not until around the 1980s that the British began to call it exclusively football. People, whereas, believe that the only reason that Britain stopped using the word soccer was because of its American context. Basically, the British invented the word soccer, and the Americans kept it. In the end, the Britishers dropped it because the Americans kept it.

Mike/Pexels | The British abandoned the name soccer in 1980

The Origin Of The Word Football

Where exactly did the name football come from? The British believe that what they call ‘American football’ and what Americans call ‘football’ is absolutely illogical considering the fact that it is played with hands. So, should it be called handball instead? Well, no, because that name is already taken by another sport. The British also argue for it to be called handegg because the ball that is used to play American football is not shaped like a round ball. Instead, it is shaped like an egg. However, this is an argument that Britain has not won because no change seems to have been made to the names. The only explanation that is understandable when it comes to why it is called football is the length of the ball, which is approximately one foot. 

Jean-Daniel Francoeur/Pexels | People believe football gets its name because of the length of the ball

The Origin Of The Word Soccer

The year in which soccer became an official sport was 1863. To set a set of rules for the game, quite a few clubs and English schools came together and created the Football Association. Soccer was known as the Football Association. You might be wondering why it had such a long name and where did soccer come from? To answer that question, the story is similar to how you create nicknames for your pets. Their official name might be Emitt Smith Jr., but you most likely will be calling them Smitty, or Smitten kitten, or something related. Similarly, soccer players began referring to it as assoc, which was subsequently referred to as soccer.

Pixabay/Pexels | Soccer is a nickname that comes from Football Association

Fascinating stuff, right?

Definitely the kind of trivia every football fan should have at the back of their hand.