I’m not a football fan, but I was at a Superbowl party tonight… y’know, just to be sociable. There was one fella there who tends to be a bit simple-minded. He has a Chemistry degree, so he must have some smarts. For whatever reason though, he often says things that make him seem considerably less erudite.
While waiting for the kick-off, he said excitedly, “Say, did you know that in Germany, football doesn’t mean the game that we’re watching? They call it fußball over there, but it’s really soccer instead.”
The rest of us had to keep from rolling our eyes. With considerable patience, we said, “Dude, it’s not just the Germans who do that. Sure, Americans call it soccer, but everyone else calls it football instead.”
Point taken, and I would expect that most intelligent sports fans (or even folks in general) would be aware of it, but to be fair, not everyone else calls it football, as I found out in this thread.
Maybe he’s just a little awkward in social situations–and doesn’t know much about sports–and wanted to say something he thought would break the ice. Maybe he didn’t care enough about soccer to know what it was called in other countries before, and he happened to catch a travel show about Germany last summer that talked about the World Cup and found lots of cheesy ways to work “or, as the locals say, ‘fußball’!” into the narrative.
C’mon now, you know there is. I mean, was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor? . . . well it ain’t over now, 'cause when the going gets tough, the tough get going! Who’s with me!?! ::runs charging off::
Tripler
Soon to be named ‘Flounder’. Why ‘Flounder’? Why not!
