Americans and Brits have a love-hate
relationship (unclear feelings about each other). We love the
British and the British hate us.
This is evident (clear) if you watch
any British drama shows. Americans
are portrayed as (shown to
be) loud, brash (aggressive in a rude way),demanding (wanting
things now and at a high standard), swaggering (walking and
moving as though we think we are better than other people), rich and ostentatious (showing
what you have to impress others), and boasting (saying you are
great). I could go on and on (continue) — I know some Brits
would be happy to – but I think you get the idea. To be honest, I really
can’t blame them. If you’ve ever encountered (met) an “ugly American” traveling abroad (overseas),
you’d feel the same way, too.
On the other hand, Americans love the British,
especially the English, and we portray (show) the British in a
very different way in our movies and TV shows. Generally speaking, British
characters are well-mannered (behave well toward others), highly
literate (read and write very well, knowing the great authors and are
well-informed), elegant (graceful and stylish), and sophisticated (have
good taste). Americans believe the Brits to be all of those things we are not,
and we want to be like them.
Perhaps that’s why here in the U.S., big-city literati (highly-educated
people who consider themselves well-read (well-informed about
literature and important ideas)) are turning into soccer fans. These Americans
follow British teams and gather at bars (places of business
where people gather to drink alcohol and to socialize) — or “pubs” to
the Brits — to watch games on big-screen TVs. And, they’ve started
calling “soccer” by the British name, “football,” and referring to the
field where the game is played by the British term, “pitch.”
All of this is rather silly, in my opinion, and may backfire (have
the opposite effect). All we need to do is look at the history of the terms
“football” and “soccer” to see why.
The term “soccer” is actually a British term. It was developed
in the 1800s to distinguish the sport of soccer, officially called “association
football,” from other similar sports, such as rugby football. It was also useful in the U.S. to distinguish this
sport from “gridiron football,” the
sport that most Americans associate with the term “football.”
For some years in Britain, both terms — “soccer” and
“football” — were used interchangeably (one for the other,
without any difference in meaning). However, the Brits in the end preferred
“football” over “soccer.” Why? Because Americans were using the term “soccer.”
They didn’t want to associate themselves with us then, and they may not want to
associate themselves with us now.
That’s why I say Brit-loving Americans may find their embrace (acceptance
and love) of soccer/football backfiring. The Brits may, once again, find
it so distasteful (unpleasant; disgusting) to share terms for
a beloved (much-loved) sport that they will come up
with (invent; create) entirely new terms to thwart (oppose;
prevent someone from achieving their goal) us annoying Americans.
- Lucy
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