ZOOMDOUT
  • HOME
  • CONTACT US
  • ABOUT ZOOMDOUT
  • SMART SHOP
  • ZOOMDOUT TRIP REPORTS
    • Ayahuasca
    • Psychedelic Mushrooms
    • Salvia Divinorum
    • Peyote and San Pedro
    • Ibogaine (coming soon)
    • DMT
    • 5-MeO-DMT
    • Holotropic Breathwork
  • VISIONARY POETRY

It's Not Socker, Or Soccer, Or Socca, It's Football!

7/3/2014

1 Comment

 
Picture
Global variations of "football" and "soccer."
The United States was recently eliminated from the 2014 World Cup in an unbelievably exciting 2-1 extra time loss to Belgium, a country smaller than the state of Maryland. The amount of American heart and spirit poured into the game was unquestionable, it's the lack of technical talent (Tim Howard completely excluded) that usually prevents the US national team from advancing into the round of eight. The lack of talent on the team stems from a lack of national interest in the sport. And, I believe, disinterest in this global sport is deeply rooted in a single word; in fact, it might be the most boring word in all of the languages of the world: soccer. 
Imagine if the NFL never adopted the name football, and was instead known as the National Soccer League. The quarterbacks and linesmen are no longer known as heroic football players, but simply as soccer players playing in the NSL. Phonologically, "soccer" is an atrocious word for your ears to lamely absorb. This may be partially (or completely) due to soccer's nonsensical etymological roots. In the mid 1800's two major sports were born in England, one was Rugby Football, the other was Association Football. The former disassociated itself from the word football and became, simply: Rugby. Similarly, the brilliant people over at Association Football were looking to abbreviate their multi-syllabic sport into something simpler to say, so they abbreviated Association. They couldn't settle with the first three letters of Association (Ass.) for fear of making their newfound sport come off as utterly ridiculous, so they shifted over a couple of letters and came up with: soc. This is combined with the fact that it was colloquially typical for English University students at the time to end some of their jargon with an -er at the end. "Sock-er," or "soccer" was born. Football and soccer were interchangeable words in England up through the 1980's, when they began rejecting the term because of soccer's rising popular in America. The English let the Americans keep "soccer" while they switched back over to the infinitely more euphonic word: football. 

This semantic anecdote allows you to recognize that "soccer" is based in bullshit. "Soccer" is ugly. America's young, elite athletes want to play American football and basketball, not "soccer." In order to attract young prospective talent and one day advance deeper into the World Cup tournament, Americans need to obliterate the word "soccer." The ugliest word in the world needs to be linguistically erased from the American lexicon. Let's get rid of the word. Soccer moms, you are no longer a soccer mom, you are a football mom. It's not sock-er, or soccer, or sokker, it's FOOTBALL!
1 Comment
Gay Bars Orange link
5/8/2024 11:10:09 pm

Thankks great post

Reply



Leave a Reply.

    Categories
    Trip Reports
    Visonary Poetry

    All
    Acid Photography
    Amazon River
    Boom Festival 2022
    Counter Culture
    Cusco
    Eyes Of The Shepherdess
    Icaros
    King Cobra
    Leticia
    Manaus
    Nihue Rao
    Ojos De La Pastora
    Photography
    Salkantay
    Salvia
    Salvia Divinorum
    Santarem
    Shipibo
    Visionary Poetry

    Archives

    March 2024
    December 2023
    November 2023
    October 2023
    September 2023
    August 2023
    July 2023
    February 2023
    December 2022
    September 2022
    August 2022
    February 2022
    June 2021
    March 2021
    January 2021
    April 2020
    January 2020
    June 2019
    September 2018
    August 2018
    May 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    November 2016
    January 2016
    July 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    March 2011
    November 2010
    June 2010
    April 2010
    March 2010
    February 2010
    January 2010
    December 2009

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.