Were a congressman’s remarks in 1983 describing American football as “capitalist” and soccer as “European socialist” as infamous as they were characterized two decades later? Kevin Tallec Marston breaks down the story about a legendary Congressional debate on soccer, football and futbol.
Commentary
The Lexical Transit of ‘Socker’ to America
The imported word “socker” began to see wide use in the US around 1905 with “soccer” quickly becoming standard. David Kilpatrick has identified its use in US sources a decade and more earlier, usage that also reinforce the word’s English etymology.









































