Comical British Article on American Football

[BritPat]

Soccer is much more tame than it once was in England. There is a new breed of "fan" who has no sense of the identity and history. They want to be "entertained" and don't join in the songs. I could REALLY start ranting at this point...

Couldn't agree more. I love Sky's coverage of the game, and I think they deserve a thankyou for how they've contributed to the growth of the Premier League, but they're largely responsible for the new generation of fan too, especially with shows like Soccer AM (which I love).

I also think the fact that stadiums are now all-seater, has contributed to it in a big way. You just don't get the camaraderie and spontaneity any more.

I would probably need an article like that to understand rugby.

Rugby's easy to follow.

Cricket however, is a different matter all together.

 

[ctpatsfan77]

Al you min ee um

Actually, I have to stand up for our British colleagues here--it's not what they did to aluminum, it's what we Americans did to aluminium. [We're the heathens, so to speak, on "aluminum." But it's even, since they're behind the times with that whole "sulphur" thing.]

 

[Dom]

What the heck is hurling? Projectile vomitting for distance (or accuracy)?

Hurling is an Irish sport with a small ball and a very large stick. I think it's a bit of a cross between lacrosse and (field) hockey.

 

[desi-patsfan]

Don't you like our less slapstick stuff, like the Office, Little Britain and so on?

i love the office but what got me into British comedies were Are you being served and Mr bean.

 

[dryheat44]

Hurling is an Irish sport with a small ball and a very large stick. I think it's a bit of a cross between lacrosse and (field) hockey.

See, that's my point. Everybody in this country knows what soccer is. I would guess over 25% of Americans 35 and younger have played it in their youth. You mention "soccer" to somebody, and they think of people running around on a field trying to kick a round ball into a goal. The reason soccer has not caught on in the US (or Canada) is NOT due to a lack of familiarity.

I'm guessing (and the Loyal Subjects can chime in here) that maybe 90% of the UK does not know even the basic Xs and Os of Football, American style. I should have said Lacrosse instead of hurling. Very few Americans know the rules of Lacrosse, but once they see it, they're hooked. It's a slow process, but I think this game which will watched as a curiosity by many in the Isles, could turn on thousands of people to the game.

 

[desi-patsfan]

Actually, I have to stand up for our British colleagues here--it's not what they did to aluminum, it's what we Americans did to aluminium. [We're the heathens, so to speak, on "aluminum." But it's even, since they're behind the times with that whole "sulphur" thing.]

not true,

By 1812, Davy had settled on aluminum, which, as other sources note, matches its Latin root. He wrote in the journal Chemical Philosophy: "As yet Aluminum has not been obtained in a perfectly free state."[17] But the same year, an anonymous contributor to the Quarterly Review, a British political-literary journal, objected to aluminum and proposed the name aluminium, "for so we shall take the liberty of writing the word, in preference to aluminum, which has a less classical sound."[18]

 

[ctpatsfan77]

not true,

By 1812, Davy had settled on aluminum, which, as other sources note, matches its Latin root. He wrote in the journal Chemical Philosophy: "As yet Aluminum has not been obtained in a perfectly free state."[17] But the same year, an anonymous contributor to the Quarterly Review, a British political-literary journal, objected to aluminum and proposed the name aluminium, "for so we shall take the liberty of writing the word, in preference to aluminum, which has a less classical sound."[18]

<pedantry>My original point--which still stands--is that the British spelling of aluminium is actually the official spelling of the word (according to the organization chemists created to make such decisions); we Americans use a variant that is tolerated. Conversely, that organization agreed with us on sulfur, and allows sulphur as a variant.

[BTW--apparently, Davy didn't try hard enough, or was himself convinced, because aluminium it ended up being.]</pedantry>

 

[Lloyd_Christmas]

Hey, at least I got some use out of the original article. My girlfriend asked me to explain football to her and I gave her a printout of it before entertaining any of her questions.

That probably saved me at least an hour of rambling half-answers interspersed with God only knows how many tangents.

 

[gomezcat]

I would probably need an article like that to understand rugby.

If you're interested, we could start a thread on Rugby in the general talk forum. Quite of few of the guys on here, including Americans, have played the game.