Merriam-Webster Sparks Soccer Turf War With Single Tweet, and Fans Had Strong Opinions

MLS and USMNT also chimed in to the conversation.

The Merriam-Webster Dictionary’s social media team woke up on Friday and chose violence.

It took just one simple tweet regarding the soccer vs. football debate to cause an uproar on X, formerly known as Twitter.

While most Americans call the sport “soccer,” the British population has held its ground that the sport is called “football.” On top of this, Americans are often made fun of for calling it soccer.

Merriam-Webster added to this ongoing conversation by posting: “‘Soccer’ was originally British slang for ‘association football.’”

The dictionary’s account added that, “Earlier versions of ‘soccer’ are the similarly slangy ‘socca’ and ‘socker,’ as well as ‘footer,’ cut from ‘(association) football.’”

Earlier versions of 'soccer' are the similarly slangy 'socca' and 'socker,' as well as 'footer,' cut from '(association) football.'

— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) October 13, 2023

Soccer fans couldn’t help but be ecstatic about this fact that seemingly was unknown to the general population beforehand. 

Take a look at some of the best social media reactions to this news, including from the Major Soccer League and the United States Men’s National Team.

This post has reached its target audience. https://t.co/rq3n0NdzQg

— Major League Soccer (@MLS) October 13, 2023

😏 https://t.co/SFBWSkf7Yf

— U.S. Soccer Men's National Team (@USMNT) October 13, 2023

Important reminder: we are Orlando City SC not FC cause it's called soccer. https://t.co/M1pPzjvgoS

— Orlando City SC (@OrlandoCitySC) October 13, 2023

oh my god https://t.co/DyIbCmSQHf

— USMNT Only (@usmntonly) October 13, 2023

So you’re telling me that every British person that’s been snooty when I’ve called it soccer has been mad at something THEY CREATED????? https://t.co/5XKXtnM4ur

— Mitch🦦 (@mitchpeotter) October 13, 2023

https://t.co/3uBqMvYmbe pic.twitter.com/Zf0xEVRwc7

— AO (@AmericanOutlaws) October 13, 2023

One of the funniest things about soccer being an Americanism is that around the world, no English speaker outside of a small group of actual English people would ever turn “Association Football” into “soccer.” https://t.co/wCCqeRJ4D5

— Henry Porter 🇺🇸 (@HenryPorters) October 13, 2023

honestly the british are right to clown us for calling it soccer

that's what we get for adopting their slang https://t.co/p6F19XuB3O

— Joseph Lowery (@joeclowery) October 13, 2023

UK exposed 🫣 https://t.co/jZB4DsRUAS

— chuboi 🇳🇬🇨🇦 (@ChuBoi) October 13, 2023