How did the USA come up with the word "Soccer"?

Question

The rest of the world uses the word Football, but how did the United States come up with soccer?

Answer 1

It wasn't the U.S., according to any account I've read.

The term actually stems from an abbreviation that referred to Association Football. Association Football was the term for football (or soccer, depending on where you live!) at that time -- it was used to differentiate the game from Rugby (referred to at that time as Rugby Football).

A common practice of University students -- at Oxford, for example, not in the U.S. -- was to add the suffix "er" onto things. For example: "wanna play Rugger" as a way of asking if someone wanted to play Rugby.Socca was an abbreviation for Association Football. Tack on the "er" to "Socca" and you have your word, "Soccer."

So actually, you can "blame" it on the English. ;p

Answer 2

Yeah, see that? The USA did NOT come up with it. Some Brit did. Why does the rest of the world seem to blame the USA because we have not embraced what they call football and we call soccer? We don't like it for the most part except as a game for our children to play. Get it? David Beckham may help to change that but I doubt it. We are too ingrained in our own what WE call football. The lining up of 11 guys opposite each other and the smashing of bodies and the tossing of the pigskin. You should be glad we don't love football/soccer because we'd just ruin it for the rest of you if we did!

Answer 3

The USA did not come up with the word soccer. The word soccer comes from England. Around the late 19th or early 20th century English public school boys began taking the middle of words and adding er to them as a sort of slang. Thus soccer derived from Association Football. The soc was pulled from Association (SOC) combined with ER and the word Soccer was born. The term has lasted in the US because it differentiates this great sport from American football.

Answer 4

The rules of football were codified in England by the Football Association in 1863, and the name association football was coined to distinguish the game from the other forms of football played at the time, specifically rugby football. The term soccer first appeared in the 1880s as a slang abbreviation of Association football, often credited to Charles Wreford-Brown

Answer 5

We didn't. "Soccer" as far as I know has its orgin in England. "Soccer" took off in the US. The United States Soccer Federation used to be known as the US Football Association, then became the US Soccer Football Association, and finally United States Soccer Federation. "Soccer" is also common in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and South Africa.

Answer 6

It comes from the term Association Football.

Answer 7

because if they use the same word (Football) then there is no foolies who like to crash each other everytime and got popular...

everyone in America will dump that stupid rough barbarian game and switch to the other football game, the real FOOTball.

Answer 8

the US did not come up with the term or name soccer.in fact England did in 19 century.

Answer 9

there is only one football! all others use hands, what tha heck? they definitely should be called handball

Answer 10

soccer because they suck at it.