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Fancy a game of Throwball?

2008 December 16
tags: , , ,
by pacificyorkshirebird

avt_kapyork_large115Recently, I was talking with someone who had that all familiar twinkle is his eye.  He had a question for me that, in terms of my list of FAQ’s,  is right up there with “Why is it called the World Series if its not teams from around the world?”

This time it was “Why do you call American Football…. Football?  Shouldn’t it be called Throwball?  Because in real football they use their feet but in American Football you throw the the ball.  So why do you call it Football?  It should be Throwball.”

My response this time was actually in reference to an earlier post.  I remembered to say to him “I was off sick the day they had that meeting.”

His logic was off though.  It doesn’t make sense to call one Football and one Throwball if you use the logic that the predominant action in the game is what determines the name.  If you do that, then Football should be called Kickball.  I’m pretty sure no self respecting British football fan would agree to that.  So if you keep the name Football, then it would be more correct to add “(with a little bit of throwing)” to the name and the logical conclusion would be to rename American Football to Handball (with a little bit of kicking).

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  • http://www.blogiota.blogspot.com Iota

    Or maybe you should have stumped him by asking why they call cricket cricket and not wicketball or something.

  • yankeebean

    And while we’re on the subject, ‘rugby’ has nothing to do with ‘rugs’.

    Where do people come up with this stuff???

  • Jeromio

    Dear Ladies, Dear Ladies, tut tut, do let me enlighten you, Football offers an apt name as the ‘foot’ is the area where one requires most talent in order to excel at the beautiful game. Rugby gets its name from its origination at the respectable Rugby School for Exceptional Boys. Cricket from its dependence on the area of the field known as the ‘cric’, pronouned ‘crease’ for our cross atlantic friends yet to master elementary eloqution. In this country we try to name things outside the requirements of corporate sponsorship, thankyou.

  • pacificyorkshirebird

    Well, I’ve been told! Thanks for the clarification. I think you’ve just won the Coca Cola Comment of the Day award!

    And thanks for the witty comments ladies. They will go in the vault for next time. :)

  • George

    Jeromio still doesn’t address the point of the post, which is that the guy was being an obnoxious ass and deserved to have the piss taken out of him. If he’s going to be so anal about names correctly describing the activities they are named for, he should first ‘look in the mirror’, as they say. And don’t get me started on the condescension…such an endearing British quality.

  • http://www.ukusforum.com/index.php Howard

    > And don’t get me started on the condescension

    The best way, George, to handle what you might feel is condescension, is to behave as if it you’re not being condescended to. Try it!

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