this post was submitted on 16 Jan 2026
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Look into the origin of the term "soccer." I was curious, so I did. Long story short, it comes from "association football." I call American football "gridiron football" because, quite ironically, it IS a form of football.
It's like saying we can't call refried beans beans because they're not like black beans (I was just thinking about Mexican food, sorry!). Gridiron football may not be your cup of tea, but it IS football. Association football just deserves the term more. Also, in the weeks leading up to the Super Bowl, if you just say football, people assume gridiron (and specifically NFL).
I kinda hate that it's like that, I wish things were more accurately described, but at least we can control how our words are received by knowing what people expect from certain words.