• CombatWombatEsq@lemmy.world
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    19 hours ago

    If football refers to a single, specific, concrete sport, why do we use it to refer to Canadian rules football AND Gaelic rules football AND American football AND association football?

    • AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works
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      19 hours ago

      we use it to refer to Canadian rules football AND Gaelic rules football AND American football

      ‘we’ is doing a lot of heavy lifting there, considering that’s like 5% of the world population that would refer to it that way.

      • CombatWombatEsq@lemmy.world
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        19 hours ago

        Maybe in terms of active vocabulary, but in terms of passive vocabulary ~100% of English speakers will recognize the ambiguity

        • AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works
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          19 hours ago

          ~100% of English speakers will recognize the ambiguity

          Everybody outside of said countries will consider ‘football’ to refer to, well, football, without any ambiguity. They may be aware Americans are idiots about it but it’s not something that comes up in daily conversation.

          • CombatWombatEsq@lemmy.world
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            19 hours ago

            Right. You want to use the word football exclusively to refer to soccer because your goal is to be exclusionary. You don’t want those stupid Americans to talk about your favorite sport. But I really want to talk about soccer with y’all a lot, and it’s really frustrating that you are willing to discard this rich history and culture associated with the word soccer in favor of the word that British aristocrats used to distinguish themselves from working class soccer fans, and I find it very sad what you’re willing to sacrifice just to keep me out of the conversation.

            • AwesomeLowlander@sh.itjust.works
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              19 hours ago

              You want to use the word football exclusively to refer to soccer because your goal is to be exclusionary

              No, our goal is to use our already understood terms the way we understand them.

              You don’t want those stupid Americans to talk about your favorite sport.

              They’re welcome to. I don’t watch ANY sports. The closest I get to it is arguing with online trolls.

              But I really want to talk about soccer with y’all a lot

              Sure, go ahead. Nobody’s stopping you.

              rich history and culture associated with the word soccer in favor of the word that British aristocrats used to distinguish themselves from working class soccer fans

              Go read the link I posted about the etymology of the word football. Why are you discarding that rich history and culture?

              what you’re willing to sacrifice just to keep me out of the conversation.

              You have a highly inflated opinion of yourself if you think the English speaking world made language choices with you in mind.

              • CombatWombatEsq@lemmy.world
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                18 hours ago

                Oh, I guess ha ha you really owned me by pretending to care about sports so you can clown on me about etymology or whatever. I’m just super upset that I got to talk about my favorite sport in the context of its entrance into the English language and its place in 19th century British class structure on the internet.