football and soccer

I’m very pleased to present a guest blog by one of my students at the University of Sussex. The author, Elize Holyoake, recently completed our English in the United States module and will be entering her third year in the BA English Language and Linguistics in the autumn. I’m grateful to her for researching and writing this post!Every four years since its inauguration in 1930, the FIFA World Cup has brought together teams from all over the world to share the love of one sport. Since this year it was hosted by North American countries Canada, Mexico, and the USA, it is time to call into question a linguistic competition within this competition: is the beloved game soccer or football?British and American fans have long debated the name of the game played by two teams with a round ball that's kicked or headed across a field. Fans back their own naming preference with as much enthusiasm as they have for their national teams. Reddit user EdHamden on r/soccer has created colo(u)red world…