# A comment made at a Superbowl party
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-comment-made-at-a-superbowl-party/390892
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [February 5, 2007, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-comment-made-at-a-superbowl-party/390892 "2007-02-05T05:02:27Z")
**Posts on this page:** 15
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2007, 5:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-comment-made-at-a-superbowl-party/390892/1 "2007-02-05T05:02:27Z")
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.”
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### Author:  [@Leaper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaper)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2007, 5:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-comment-made-at-a-superbowl-party/390892/2 "2007-02-05T05:17:41Z")
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.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=376279)
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### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2007, 5:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-comment-made-at-a-superbowl-party/390892/3 "2007-02-05T05:51:41Z")
Some folks here in the US call the NFL games “_the Nuffles_.” Not many, but some of us.
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### Author:  [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2007, 8:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-comment-made-at-a-superbowl-party/390892/4 "2007-02-05T08:02:40Z")
[QUOTE=Leaper]
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.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=376279)
[/QUOTE]
Well, “everyone who doesn’t have English as a first language” is too long…
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### Author:  [@twickster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/twickster)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2007, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-comment-made-at-a-superbowl-party/390892/5 "2007-02-05T11:51:08Z")
[QUOTE=AskNott]
Some folks here in the US call the NFL games “_the Nuffles_.” Not many, but some of us.
[/QUOTE]
You can now officially make that count “plus one.” 😃
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### Author:  [@Hostile\_Dialect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hostile_Dialect)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2007, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-comment-made-at-a-superbowl-party/390892/6 "2007-02-05T12:16:48Z")
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.
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### Author:  [@TroubleAgain](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TroubleAgain)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2007, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-comment-made-at-a-superbowl-party/390892/7 "2007-02-05T17:18:56Z")
[QUOTE=AskNott]
Some folks here in the US call the NFL games “_the Nuffles_.” Not many, but some of us.
[/QUOTE]
Ooooh, I like. Add me to the count. Oh, and you know that show where the cars go round to the left on a track really fast? That’s NAPCAR. 😃
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### Author:  [@AskNott](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AskNott)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2007, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-comment-made-at-a-superbowl-party/390892/8 "2007-02-05T18:00:25Z")
[QUOTE=TroubleAgain]
Ooooh, I like. Add me to the count. Oh, and you know that show where the cars go round to the left on a track really fast? That’s NAPCAR. 😃
[/QUOTE]
Y’know, I love those big square racecars, but I do tend to nod off in mid-race.
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### Author:  [@Harmonious\_Discord](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Harmonious_Discord)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2007, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-comment-made-at-a-superbowl-party/390892/9 "2007-02-05T19:51:19Z")
Fussball around here is the table game with the little players on rods you spin around. I didn’t use the fancy German font so tough. 😛
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### Author:  [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2007, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-comment-made-at-a-superbowl-party/390892/10 "2007-02-05T19:59:38Z")
[QUOTE=JThunder]
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.”
[/QUOTE]
Did he really pronounce it like that? w00t. :dubious:
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### Author:  [@pravnik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pravnik)
#### Post date: [February 5, 2007, 8:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-comment-made-at-a-superbowl-party/390892/11 "2007-02-05T20:24:26Z")
[QUOTE=JThunder]
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.”
[/QUOTE]
“Dude, don’t be so naive. There’s no such place as Germany!”
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### Author:  [@Runs\_With\_Scissors](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Runs_With_Scissors)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2007, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-comment-made-at-a-superbowl-party/390892/12 "2007-02-06T04:32:45Z")
[QUOTE=JThunder]
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.”
[/QUOTE]
Wait, so you were watching the game with that funny shaped “ball”?
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### Author:  [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2007, 4:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-comment-made-at-a-superbowl-party/390892/13 "2007-02-06T04:35:38Z")
[QUOTE=Runs With Scissors]
Wait, so you were watching the game with that funny shaped “ball”?
[/QUOTE]
Yep. I also made a comment about how I hadn’t watched football since Pelé retired.
At which point the clueless guy in question asked, “Who’s Pelé?”
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### Author:  [@JThunder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JThunder)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2007, 4:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-comment-made-at-a-superbowl-party/390892/14 "2007-02-06T04:47:10Z")
…
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### Author:  [@Tripler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tripler)
#### Post date: [February 6, 2007, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/a-comment-made-at-a-superbowl-party/390892/15 "2007-02-06T04:52:35Z")
[QUOTE=pravnik]
“Dude, don’t be so naive. There’s no such place as Germany!”
[/QUOTE]
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!