While calling the world's most popularsport "soccer" is typically depicted as a symbol of Americanignorance, the reason we don't call it "football" like the rest ofthe world is actually Britain'sfault.
美国人称世界上最大众的运动为“soccer”，这一直被认为是美国人无知的象征，而我们美国人之所以不称足球为“football”，这完全是英国人的错。
The word "soccer" is a Britishinvention that British people only stopped using about 30 years ago, accordingto a new paper by University of Michigan professorStefan *河蟹*manski.
“soccer”这个单词是英国人的发明，根据密歇根大学Stefan *河蟹*manski教授在一份论文中的说法，英国人直到30年前才停止使用这种说法。
The word "soccer" comes from theuse of the term "association football" in Britain, and it goes back 200years.
“soccer”这个词源于英国人对"associationfootball"这个词汇的使用，而这一词汇的使用可以追溯到200年前。
In the early-1800s a bunch of Britishuniversities took "football" — a medieval game — and started playingtheir own versions of it, all under different rules. To standardized thingsacross the country, these games were categorized under different organizationswith different names.
在19世纪初期，一些英国大学里开始玩起了足球（football）——一种源于中世纪的比赛——而且每个大学的玩法都不一样。为了统一标准，这些比赛被归类到拥有不同名字的比赛项目中去。
One variant of the game you played withyour hands became "rugby football." Another variant came to be knownas "association football" after the Football Association formed topromote the game in 1863, 15 years after the rules were made at Cambridge.
其中用手来玩的一类就变成了“rugbyfootball”。另外一种变体就是所谓的"associationfootball"了，1963年英国足球协会成立以推动这项运动的发展，而在此之前的15年前，这项运动的规则就已经在剑桥定下来了。
"Rugbyfootball" became "ruggle" for short. "Associationfootball" became "soccer."
"Rugby football"后来简称成"ruggle"。而"Association football"后来简称成了“soccer”。
After these two sports spread across the Atlantic, Americans invented their own variant of thegame that they simply called "football" in the early 1900s.
当这两种运动传播到大西洋彼岸时，美国人在20世纪初据此发明了自己的版本，并简单称之为"football"。
"Association football" became"soccer" in America,and what was called "gridiron" in Britainbecame simply "football" in America.
所以"Associationfootball"在美国人们称之为"soccer"，而英国人称之为"gridiron"（英式橄榄球）的运动，美国人则称之为"football"（美式橄榄球）。
The interesting thing here is that Britsstill used "soccer" regularly for a huge chunk of the 20th century.Between 1960 and 1980, "soccer" and "football" were"almost interchangeable" in Britain, *河蟹*manski found.
有趣的是，在20世纪的大部分时间里，英国仍然习惯的称呼足球为"soccer"。*河蟹*manski 教授发现，1960年到1980年间，在英国，"soccer" 和 "football"这两种叫法几乎是可以互换的。
Then everything changed (via *河蟹*manski):
随后一切都发生了改变（*河蟹*manski说）：
"Since 1980 the usage of the word'soccer' has declined in British publications, and where it is used, it usuallyrefers to an American context. This decline seems to be a reaction against theincreased usage in the USwhich seems to be associated with the highpoint of the NASL around 1980."
“从1980年代以来，英国出版物中越来越少用到'soccer'，如果有使用到的话，那也是用来指代美国足球的。英国对这个单词的少用似乎是对美国对这个词的多用所做出的反应，1980年代左右，北美足球联赛（NorthAmerican Soccer League）异常的火爆。
British people stopped saying"soccer" because of its American connotations.
由于这个单词所具有的美国内涵，所以英国人开始停止使用"soccer"。
So no, it's not wrong to call it"soccer" if you're American.
所以说，美国人称足球为"soccer"并非是一种错。
评论翻译
Trident 3 hours ago
Lived in London during the mid-70's and never onceheard the game referred to as soccer (although I never heard anyone disparage theterm soccer there, either).
Think the Aussies refer to it as soccer, too.
Go USA!!!(although we could use a good nickname, like Australia's Socceroos).
70年代，我在伦敦生活过，从来没听过英国人称足球为soccer（也没有看到哪个英国人对这个单词表示轻蔑）。
貌似澳洲人也称足球为soccer。
美国队加油（尽管我们也可以给美国队娶一个更好的绰号，比如澳洲足球国家队就叫做Socceroos（足球袋鼠队））
GerryInColorado 53 minutes ago
Brits call it football.Americans aren't British - since 1776
also, in America it's:
a field not a pitch
a cleat not a boot
sudden death not golden goal
a game not a match
zero not nil
英国人称足球为football。可自从1776年来，美国人就不是英国人了。
还有，在美国：
球场叫field 而不是 pitch
防滑鞋叫cleat 而不是 boot
一球制胜叫suddendeath 而不是 goldengoal
比赛叫game 而不是 match
0叫zero 而不是 nil
buck 1 hour ago
The story never mentions it, but the termfootball goes back centuries and has nothing to do with kicking the ball. Itmeans a game on your feet and not on a horse
这篇文章没有提到的是football这种叫法可以追溯到这之前的几个世纪前，和踢球一点关系没有。意思是脚上的一种比赛，而且不是骑在马上。
Derek Smith 48 minutes ago
Why is it every time some stupidconservative has to show off their proud arrogance and ignorance about howsoccer is inferior to American sports? AND THEN these conservatives pointfingers to the rest of the world about how they should learn more from us. Whenforeigners defend their countries against our conservatives, our conservativesblame Obama for Americalosing people's envy and respect around the world.
为什么总有一些愚蠢的保守派人士出来展示自己的自大和无知并总认为足球运动低劣于美国的其他运动项目？然后这些保守人士认为全世界都应该向美国学习。当外国人不认同我们这些保守人士的看法并为自己国家辩护时，我们的保守派人士就会去指责奥巴马，认为是他令美国失去了别国的尊敬和羡慕。
Bobby 1 hour ago
I've wrote many papers on this in college.The only thing I had not heard yet was the reason for the name. Thanks Yahoo! Finally,a story I can say is completely useful :)
在大学里时，我就这个话题写过多篇论文。我之前还真不知道原来足球的名字有这么一段历史。谢谢你雅虎！这篇文章对我来说太有用了。
Jes 6 minutes ago
amazing really...so instead of learning andcalling it 'football' as the name of game is...we continue with our ignorance,calling it soccer...because we're American.
真是很神奇，我们美国没有学着去称足球为'football'，反而，我们我们继续着自己的自大并称其为soccer，就因为我们是美国人。
william 33 minutes ago
I don琀 buy it. My dad has a Britishpublication from that late 50s in which they refer to Football, nothing on''soccer''. By the way, Football (soccer) hardly exists in Canada since when it comes tosports, they are basically an american colony.
我不认同文章的说法。我爸爸有一本50年代末期的英国出版物，其中就称足球为Football，根本就没有提到''soccer'。还有，自从足球成为一项运动以来，这种运动基本上没在加拿大存在过，因为加拿大基本上是美国的一个殖民地。
FC1 57 minutes ago
Whatever helps the americans sleep atnight. Always trying to make their version of things so the rest of the worldcan catch on but in this case they have failed miserably. Football is Football& Rugby is Rugby. The nfl is a mix of bothRugby & Football. So in reality it is a copy and its name should be changedimmediately.
这一切都是美国人为了让自己在夜里能够睡得舒服。美国人总是想创造出自己的版本，然后要求全世界都跟随，但是在足球的叫法上，美国人彻底的输了。Football 就是Football，Rugby （英式橄榄球）就是Rugby。美国的全国橄榄球联盟（National Football League）其实是英式橄榄球和足球的结合体，所以事实上这是美国在模仿，应该马上对名字进行修改。
brjbbrjb 9 hours ago
It's actually kind of amazing that Americadid not adopt another official language like French, German, of even Spanishconsidering history.
考虑到美国的历史，令人感到惊奇的是美国尽管没有采用法语、德语或者西班牙语作为另外一种官方语言。
Cephalopod 1 hour ago
What this American doesn't explain is WHYon earth did the septics decide to call gridiron - football? This "academic" is writing complete and utter rubbish. Being born in 1934, myfather NEVER called football by the name " soccer". Classic Americanrevisionist historical rubbish.
这名学者写的这篇文章完全是垃圾，我父亲生在1934年，他从来没称足球为"soccer"，这又是一篇美国历史修正主义的垃圾文章。
Charles 11 minutes ago
American Football dates back to 1880.
美式橄榄球可追溯到1880年。
Andy 1 hour ago
I don't see the big deal.
Americans and British have been feuding over words for years.
Cookie and biscuit.
Air and aero.
Semi and lorry.
Football and soccer.
我觉得这没什么。
美国人和英国人在单词的拼写上一直有争执。
Cookie 和 biscuit.
Air 和 aero.
Semi 和 lorry.
Football 和 soccer.
WingChang 3 hours ago
To call FOOTball a sport that you play withyour HANDS, it stupidity at its best. The only reason it's called SOCCER in thiscountry is to protect the NFL and college leagues. That is bound to change verysoon.
把用手来玩的橄榄球称为FOOTball，这真是有够蠢的。美国之所以称足球为SOCCER，是为了保护全国橄榄球联盟和大学生联盟。一定得改变这种现状。
