Calling the sport where 11 players pass around a ball with their feet and try to score in the opponents’ net “soccer” will get you verbally killed in any other country that’s not the United States, Canada and a few other regions.
For decades now, the debate between “soccer” and “football” has divided fans of the sport across the world. While the debate is harmless and futile in nature, it seems to be everlasting. But on Friday, a high-profile publishing company that produces one of the most popular dictionaries in the world attempted to settle the debate once and for all – kind of.
Merriam-Webster to the rescue
The Merriam-Webster Twitter account posted about “soccer” being an original British slang word for association football. Americans were delighted to be proven right. Everyone else was upset.
The information provided in the post is not anything new. It’s been known for quite some time that the term “soccer” was a short-form derivative of association football. There have been plenty of people outside of the United States that have refused to admit it, but a primary source confirming it is substantial for the debate.
This won’t change much, though. Europeans will continue arguing it should only be called football. U.S. residents will call it soccer so as to not confuse anything with American football. Spanish-speaking countries will call it fútbol. Italians will call it calcio.
All of those are correct forms. No one is truly wrong. That’s what makes language, and the sport itself, so beautiful.
The debate will always rage on, simply because human beings love to debate, regardless of whether there’s an actual right or wrong answer.