Why is it called football in UK?

Question

In Canada and USA, it is called soccer.
Why is it called football in the UK?

One more thing, why was I mistaken for an American in the London? I'm Canadian...

My accent is not Americanized.
It's Canadianized.

Answer 1

It is a game played mostly with the help of foot,that's why. Not only in U.K, it's also called football in countries like Australia, Japan,India and China.

Canadians share almost the same accent as Americans.They also look quite similar.

Answer 2

Presumably the names comes from the way the game is played - namely using your foot to kick a ball; in much the same way that net-ball, base-ball, volley-ball etc get their names.

The names of may things change when they cross the Atlantic and I guess football / soccer is one of many examples. It was called football long before the term soccer was coined and has been played in one form or another in the UK for hundreds of years. The origins stem from a game more like rugby in which opposing teams had to get the ball into an opponents village, crossing fields, streams, woodland and anything else that stood in the way.

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There's confusion around the world when it comes to accents and I think many people would have difficulty distinguishing an Australian from a New Zealand accent, an Austrian from a Swiss accent or even a Japanese from a Chinese accent. To native speakers there is a clear distinction because they are familiar with the different intonations and sounds.

Within the UK there are very different regional accents, for example: Geordie (Newcastle), Manc (Manchester), Cockney (London), Brum (Birmingham) and Scouse (Liverpool). A Brit would have no difficulty telling these apart but I think a lot of foreigners would.

If you visit the UK again maybe wear a white tee-shirt with a big red maple leaf on it to give us Brits a clue.

Answer 3

*** Americanized COMPARED to the British. I'm sure you do sound Canadian, but to someone who is English and is accustomed to hearing the strong British accent, a Canadian and an American accent are more than likely going to sound one in the same.

Because depending on where in Canada you come from, you may have a more Americanized accent compared to the British.

And it's not called football just in the UK, it's called football in ALL countries except for America (and Canada so I just learned). I thought only we called it soccer. Very interesting!

Mind you we have "American" football which takes precedence over soccer. We can't call both sports football, so we call one football and the other one soccer.

Answer 4

Soccer is called Football because, well you use your feet to kick the ball.

Soccer gets the name "Soccer" from a shorted form of the full term "Association Football". I would guess that if you went back far enough into the sports history of Canada that you'd find references to Football that preceded the development of American Football. The name change was probably to accomodate both sports in an area where American Football predominated.

Answer 5

Its called football because they kick the ball with the foot.

Back in the twenties there was a fashion to shorten words but put "er" on the end - so Rugby Union Football became known as "Rugger" When you try it with Association Football (Assocer) doesn't quite work - so "soccer"

By no stretch of the imagination can the American game be called "Football", except by North Americans of course - its a game where the players pick up the ball and run with it!

Answer 6

"Football" has been played on this side of the Atlantic, in one form or another, since mediaeval times.

There are now a number of variations, of which your American Football is one. The Wikipedia link below should be helpful.

IMHO the real question should be "Why is it called 'soccer' in the USA (and Canada)"?

BTW I find Canadian accents are quite distinctive, but that's partly because I have Canadian relatives. You were mistaken for American because many people cannot be bothered to differentiate; this happens on both sides of the Atlantic, hence Dick Van Dyke's appalling accent in Mary Poppins!!!!!!

Answer 7

It's called football simply because it is a game played with a ball and the feet...hence football...the only player allowed to use hands is the goalkeeper, unless a player is doing a "throw in" from outside the area of play...if a player other than the goalie uses their hands during play then it is a foul because they are only allowed to kick the ball...and when you kick something you use your feet....
feet + ball = football...

Answer 8

I think it may have a tiny bit to do with the fact that it is played with the feet and a ball.

On the other hand the game with the same name in America is played with the hands and an oval thing pretending to be a ball.

Now who has the semantics problem.

Answer 9

Cause it is played with feet(foot) unlike American football which should be called handball.

Answer 10

If you mean American football, the closest thing to that here is Rugby