If I’m talking to an English speaker from outside of the US, is there any confusion if I say “soccer”?
For example, when I was in college a friend asked for a “torch”. I was confused for quite some time, because I didn’t know it was another word for “flashlight”. Does the same thing happen with the word “soccer”? Should I clarify by saying, “…or football”?
Thank you!
Not a native English speaker, but my hunch is, soccer will almost certainly be understood. Also it will identify you as American.
And Canada 👋
And Australia, at least when they’re not trying to suck up to the British.
And English… I’ve heard them use soccer as well on many occasions
Yeah, soccer is actually an English term that they created to refer to association football, as opposed to rugby football or the hundreds of other forms of football.
If an Englishman uses ‘soccer’ he’s almost certainly from the upper class.
And the British, at least when they’re not trying to make Americans look bad.
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Yes that’s a common slang for it
If you really want to throw them off, call it the proper name rather than the nick name. Association football. Most adult non-american english speakers are at least tangentially aware that the name soccer derived from that. But it certainly won’t make you sound American.
Thank you!
But if an American says football, that can create a bit of confusion.