If I'm talking to an English speaker from outside of the US, is there any confusion if I say "soccer"?

For example, when I was in college a friend asked for a "torch". I was confused for quite some time, because I didn't know it was another word for "flashlight". Does the same thing happen with the word "soccer"? Should I clarify by saying, "...or football"?

Thank you!

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[–] 113 points 2 years ago (27 children)

Not a native English speaker, but my hunch is, soccer will almost certainly be understood. Also it will identify you as American.

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  • [–] 42 points 2 years ago (23 children)
  • [–] 34 points 2 years ago (6 children)

    And Australia, at least when they're not trying to suck up to the British.

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  • [–] 9 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    And English... I've heard them use soccer as well on many occasions

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  • [–] 8 points 2 years ago

    If an Englishman uses 'soccer' he's almost certainly from the upper class.

    As “soccer” was played by the elite (such as the Oxford lad who is said to have coined “soccer”), it soon spread to the working classes, and became “football”.

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    And the British, at least when they’re not trying to make Americans look bad.

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  • [+] -20 points 2 years ago (15 children)
  • [–] 17 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (8 children)

    Canada is in North America the continent, which the US (sometimes referred to as America) is also in - saying Canada is America is like saying Great Britain is Europe

    Edit: NA is a sub-continent, not the continent

    Edit 2: Scratch Edit 1

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (2 children)

    North America is a continent.

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  • [–] -1 points 2 years ago (4 children)

    And North America is in America

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  • [–] 3 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 child)

    Yes, but I don't think the person I was replying to was referring to America the landmass given the context and wording - plus even in the context given, it would still be more accurate to say North America, as Southern/Latin America doesn't share the same cultural identity with North America

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  • [–] 1 point 2 years ago

    I debated whether I should say NA or American, but I figured I don't know what Canadians use, so there we go. Anyway, nice to see that debate is still alive and healthy. I gave up on it ~20 or so years ago. Writing unitedstatesman was exhausting after a while :)

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  • [–] 2 points 2 years ago (4 children)
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  • [–] 4 points 2 years ago

    If you really want to throw them off, call it the proper name rather than the nick name. Association football. Most adult non-american english speakers are at least tangentially aware that the name soccer derived from that. But it certainly won't make you sound American.

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