Is it pretentious to call soccer "football" in America?

I had this conversation with someone, I usually call it soccer, but occasionally in conversation I'll let "football" slip in...

These days I don't think it's pretentious at all, because guess what, that's how it's presented on almost all coverage of soccer in America.


So long story short, no I don't think so

I don't think it's pretentious unless you INSIST everyone use the British nomenclature and get in a huff about it

Note: these people are usually Arsenal fans (oops, sorry blokes, supporters) in my experience

I'm kind of the same way ... I find it pretentious but not anything to get worked up or upset over. But to call soccer "football" in the states is pretentious because the English (American) word for it is soccer, and to call it football means you're trying to replicate a different culture.

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I don't think it's pretentious unless you INSIST everyone use the British nomenclature and get in a huff about it

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I agree with this completely, I'll use the nomenclature (especially kit and pitch), but I couldn't give two shits if anyone else does... Doesn't bother me one bit

I think an interesting one is keeper. I think it falls under the umbrella of something used so often in commentary that it just comes natural to say. Having said that, I've noticed that saying keeper gets a funny look from people who don't really watch the game. They'll say "you mean goalie right?". I played soccer for 10 years growing up and it was always goalie for us. I use the word keeper now, but I can see why some might find it pretentious if they don't watch the game a lot.

I don't think it is. Assimilation occurs regardless. Embrace it.

Exactly... When things get used often by media, during games, etc, it's bound to slip into use eventually.


Another perfect example that someone just posted is keeper.

Why is calling it soccer any more pretentious than calling it football? Soccer is actually a portmanteau of Association football, transformed from Oxford slang, with the word originally used always in the context of football, as in "soccer football" to distinguish it from rugby. The USSF originally had the football designation until it added the word soccer in 1945, not dropping football from its name until 1974. I don't know how people could think it is pretentious, as there is no pretense there at all if you call the sport by its other widely accepted name. It's just literally the other name for the sport which isn't popular in the US because there is a popular sport here that evolved from another code of football.

It shouldn't be a big deal but for some it is. I use both terms interchangeably.

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I find it pretentious but not anything to get worked up or upset over. 

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Pretty much this. Honestly it's pretty easy to spot when someone is trying too hard like calling players "lads" and other stuff you'd never say growing up in the states. I think pitch is probably the one that I say all the time when referring to the field(soccer field only) because it is said so many times in any broadcast you watch....ETA just like the keeper example to me.

I don't think it's pretentious, but I will never call it football.

Football is what I played in college and for most of my life. I played soccer as a fun sport in the off-season growing up and in high school.

If you played both I think that makes them not interchangeable at all, but if someone says it to me I'm not going to call them out or anything.

I typically do call a soccer jersey a 'kit' though.