Post by Duolingo

The word “soccer” was invented in England. Then the English stopped using it, and no one informed the Americans. Back in the 1800s, Oxford students had a habit of chopping words down and slapping "-er" on the end. Association Football became "Assoc," and then “soccer.” The British used it constantly, right alongside “football.” When the sport crossed the Atlantic, Americans needed a name that wouldn't get confused with American football, so they borrowed soccer straight from the English. Then, sometime in the mid-1900s, the term fell out of use in the U.K., and Brits went back to calling it football. The U.S. just... never switched. And that's not even the whole story. Many languages adapted "football" to fit their own pronunciation rules. The Portuguese turned it into futebol. And then you have the Italians, who skipped the translation entirely and went with “calcio” instead, from the verb “calciare,” meaning "to kick." So whether you're cheering for Spain or Argentina this weekend, what do you call it? #learning