About that, yeah… > Linguistically creative students at the University of Oxford in the 1880s distinguished between the sports of “rugger” (rugby football) and

About that, yeah… > Linguistically creative students at the University of Oxford in the 1880s distinguished between the sports of “rugger” (rugby football) and “assoccer” (association football). The latter term was further shortened to “soccer” (sometimes spelled “socker”), and the name quickly spread beyond the campus. However, “soccer” never became much more than a nickname in Great Britain. By the 20th century, rugby football was more commonly called rugby, while association football had earned the right to be known as just plain football. > Meanwhile, in the United States, a sport emerged in the late 19th century that borrowed elements of both rugby and association football. Before long, it had proved more popular than either of them. In full, it was known as gridiron football, but most people never bothered with the first word. As a result, American association-football players increasingly adopted soccer to refer to their sport. https://www.britannica.com/story/why-do-some-people-call-football-soccer https://www.britannica.com/story/why-do-some-people-call-foo...