Among my many rants, I've grumped about the illogic of calling a modified version of rugby "football." Finally, someone has dug deeply enough into this issue to explain it: https://sites.udel.edu/amahdi/.../soccer-or-football/ Now I can shut up and you all can rejoice.

Er...? There is a ball. You kick it. With your foot. Where is the illogic? (Of course you might be referring to the game you guys call "football" and that is illogical, but your reference to soccer has confused me.)

We in the USA don't get your logic, Bob. Too rational for US sports types.

By your logic footwear would be gloves, footprints would be on your fingers and to cross a footbridge you would need to walk on your hands.

Precisely, Bob. Sports and politics have nothing to do with logic in the USA. I'm going to start selling Donald's Knuckle Balm to 'em.

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Originally posted by BobHale:
By your logic footwear would be gloves, footprints would be on your fingers and to cross a footbridge you would need to walk on your hands.

Funnily enough, the German for "glove" is Handschuh, which is literally "hand-shoe".

This message has been edited. Last edited by: zmježd, August 26, 2021 10:05

Indeed, and one of my favourite German words is the word for mobile phone - das Handy, which is handy.

There are a bunch of these faux English words in German. Besides "handy" I love "beamer" for LCD projector.

Forget "Beamer," here's the North German term:http://acronymsandslang.com/definition/1511878/BMW-meaning.html

I always knew that BMWs were called Beamers, but I had never known what BMW stands for: Bayerische Mist Wagen.

And now I do! Thanks, Geoff!

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Originally posted by Kalleh:
I always knew that BMWs were called Beamers, but I had never known what BMW stands for: Bayerische Mist Wagen.

And now I do! Thanks, Geoff!

You may know this already and I may not realise that you have got the joke but it doesn't mean that. That's actually a joke name meaning "Bavarian s**t car". It really stands for Bayerische Motoren Werke meaning the Bavarian Motor Company.

Of course you wouldn't know that from the linked site, which is an object lesson in why you should always be wary about things you find on the internet. It is interesting though just how many abbreviation finder sites quote this joke as fact - I suppose that if enough people use it then it's A meaning even if not the official one.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: BobHale, September 09, 2021 22:09

I should have been more clear. Sorry, Kalleh, for misleading you.

As for the original post, I don't understand how Bob sees it as illogical. We in the USA do not call what the rest of the world calls "football" football, but "soccer." US "football" is really modified rugby, coplete with oblate spheroid instead of a round ball.

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illogical

Language (or grammar) and logic have little to do with one another.

Of course they don't but when coming up with a word to describe a new sport why would you call a sport where you (almost) exclusively use your hands "foot"ball?

Precisely! Maybe the best answer I can find is this one, written by a non-native English speaker, it appears: https://www.scottfujita.com/wh...all-called-football/

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why would you call a sport where you (almost) exclusively use your hands "foot"ball?

'Cause that's how the word evolved linguistically. (Maybe it was just to piss off the peevers.) When I was a kid, I often wondered why the game of cricket was so called. I mean it's not like there are any Orthopteran insects playing. While I find non-questions like "Why do we drive on a parkway and park in a driveway" humorous, I do not see them as generating topics for linguistic studies.