this post was submitted on 18 Jun 2026
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Casual UK

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[–] Sharkticon@lemmy.zip 24 points 2 days ago

Now hold on a minute this was all your idea.

[–] fartsparkles@lemmy.world 130 points 3 days ago (20 children)

Soccer is a British word though, but predominantly southerner / Oxfordian.

Association Football used to get contracted to Assoc or Soc to differentiate it from Rugby Football.

And in Oxford, they historically liked to add -er to the end of things; still in parlance today is calling Rugby “rugger”, £5 note “fiver”, the Bodleian Library “Bodder”.

Assoc became “soccer”.

It’s not an American thing. It’s a posh southern England thing that got exported to the states by American students at Oxford returning stateside and bringing the game back with them.

[–] Cethin@lemmy.zip 6 points 3 days ago

It's not just to distinguish it from rugby football. There are dozens of different types of games of football. Association football is just the one that got particularly popular across the world.

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[–] Doomsider@lemmy.world 26 points 3 days ago (1 children)

So dumb it hurts,

The term "soccer" was invented in England in the late 19th century by university students. It is widely attributed to Charles Wredford-Brown, an Oxford student.

[–] drolex@sopuli.xyz 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Charles Wredford-Brown

I think it would have been more believable if the guy had been called Sir Nigel Britishman-Worcestershiresauce

This is a joke name surely

[–] BigBananaDealer@lemmy.world 5 points 2 days ago (1 children)

yeah, the NFL is the same exact way. every game starts with a foot kicking a ball, therefore it is football

soccer is short for association football, englanders created it, therefore it is soccer

[–] trashboypro@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

It's not a sphere, therefore it's not a ball. It's shaped like more like an egg.

You kick it once with your foot, then you carry it with your hand.

It's not football, its HANDEGG.

[–] BigBananaDealer@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago

we'll call it handegg for a few years then switch back to football once europeans unanimously call it handegg, then we'll make fun of them for it

[–] agent_nycto@lemmy.world 7 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Gotta love it when people say "Americans tell everyone else what to do and how to do it" but also go "we should tell Americans what to do and how to do it"

The hypocrisy knows no bounds! (For the Europeans out there, the hypocrisy knows no 1.609 metric bounds)

[–] inclementimmigrant@lemmy.world 29 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

You want to blame someone, blame yourselves since you're the ones who created and colonized the word.

https://www.britannica.com/story/why-do-some-people-call-football-soccer

[–] Feathercrown@lemmy.world 18 points 3 days ago (1 children)

My brother in christ YOU CALLED IT SOCCER

[–] Nangijala@feddit.dk 1 points 1 day ago

I just love it when Americans hear some retarded shit Britain did and then accuse all of Europe for doing it.

They also left the union. Are you gonna blame all of Europe for leaving the EU?

All of Europe - except for Britain, apparently - call it football.

[–] Linktank@lemmy.today 14 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I wont hear from the UK about speaking English correctly. You are not serious people.

[–] drolex@sopuli.xyz 5 points 2 days ago

Precisely. It was called soccer as a joke

[–] Azrael@reddthat.com 49 points 3 days ago (18 children)

Actually I believe it's called "Football" because most ball games were originally played on horseback.

Football (Soccer) was one of the first ball games to be played on foot, hence Foot-ball

That's why Rugby, Canadian Football, Australian Football, and American Football are also types of "Football".

Also, the name "Soccer" was literally invented in England. It's short for "Association Football" (Association - Assoc - Soccer) so shut the f*** up

[–] RamenJunkie@midwest.social 18 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Man, Baseball with horses would be wild.

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[–] halcyoncmdr@piefed.social 50 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Blame the British, Oxford specifically, and their penchant to name things ending in -er. They're the ones that named it, and they hide from that fact now as if they were never a part of it.

https://www.history.com/articles/why-do-some-people-call-it-soccer

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[–] kerrigan778@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 2 days ago

That ridiculous name was all Britain's fault

[–] jambudz@lemmy.zip 20 points 3 days ago

Y’all are the ones who came up with the name soccer.

[–] Vreyan31@reddthat.com 11 points 3 days ago

But that ball is not shaped like a foot

[–] lgmjon64@lemmy.world 14 points 3 days ago (1 children)

But you use both of your feet. Shouldn't it be called feetball then?

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[–] JohnSmith@feddit.uk 24 points 3 days ago (1 children)

Both the American and rest of the world versions of their respective ball games are played on foot, as opposed to polo that is played riding a horse. The latter was originally invented by Ralph Lauren, as commemorated in ubiquitous t-shirts with a gentlemanly collar.

[–] Ioughttamow@fedia.io 14 points 3 days ago (2 children)

Why do people still wear Lacoste if no one plays gatorball anymore?

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[–] apfelwoiSchoppen@lemmy.world 23 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (5 children)

¿Por qué no los dos? Personally tired of these primarily online binary semantic arguments. Gif, jif, football, soccer, fútbol, pineapple, ananas, eggplant, aubergine. We contain multitudes, celebrate these absolutely arbitrary differences.

[–] fakeman_pretendname@feddit.uk 16 points 3 days ago

No.

Them other folks need to learn themselves to talk proper.

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[–] resipsaloquitur@lemmy.cafe 17 points 3 days ago (8 children)
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[–] pigup@lemmy.world 10 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] OhStopYellingAtMe@lemmy.world 10 points 3 days ago (3 children)

Both are called football because they’re played on foot, as opposed to on horseback. Both were called that because people who couldn’t afford horses were using polo fields to play Society football (soccer) or Rugby football (American football).

It has nothing to do with how the ball is handled/kicked.

[–] halfdome@feddit.org 3 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] OhStopYellingAtMe@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Yes. According to history people, the first time the word football was used was in some elitist college newspaper, complaining about people playing lowly “foot-ball games” on their horse polo fields.

[–] halfdome@feddit.org 1 points 13 hours ago

I genuinely learned something new here. Appreciate it

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[–] megopie@beehaw.org 7 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

soccer is just a shortening of “association football”

“Foot ball” in American English referring to “gridiron football.”

Comepare that to “Gaelic football”, “Australian football” or “Rugby football”.

These are all just different rule sets that have evolved from a common ancestor, they’re all football.

[–] wasabi_noir@lemmy.zip 3 points 2 days ago
[–] Jankatarch@lemmy.world 6 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago)

Woah woah woah. I thought we agreed getting Americans to use A4 paper instead of 8.5x11 first, calculate by the metric instead of the imperial system second, measure economy by HDI instead of GDP third, and call it football instead of soccer last.

[–] Luminous5481@anarchist.nexus 12 points 3 days ago (4 children)

if it's called football, then why did YOU name it soccer? seems kind of silly to blame other people for using the name you insisted everyone use.

but that's like imperial measurements, you insisted everyone use them and then changed your mind down the line and now make fun of us for using the Imperial system that Imperial Britian came up with. you have a nasty habit of blaming everyone else for the problems you create.

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[–] TigerAce@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 days ago (3 children)

Trying to apply logic at Americans. Waste of time. They still use imperial and call their sport football even though it's without using a foot and ball.

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