Help Me Settle A Score Here...

I really need some help here.

It all happened last Monday in my Marketing class. I was sat listening to the lecturer talk about marketing basics; four p's, primary and secondary research, etc; when a suspicious word left her mouth and caused confusion to my brain.

After a few minutes of thought (yeah, my mind works slowly) I sussed it. What I believe she was trying to say was the word 'niche'. As in 'a niche market', small market within a larger market. 

What got me was her pronunciation of it. She said it like: 'nitch'. At first I assumed she mis-said it, but the lecturer used the word with the same pronunciation repeatedly. After asking about a few American mates, I discovered they all say it the same. This is one of those things in life that just instantly ticks you off.

They way I'm used to hearing it is pronounced: 'neesh'. Which I thought was the correct way.

So someone please shed some light on my dilemma. I don't like being wrong...

Jersey Shore and the rest of America

I keep hearing their terms everywhere, absolutely everywhere in this country. You guessed it folks, I'm ranting about Jersey Shore (but who isn't?).

I'll express my opinion on the so-called "reality" show in a bit, but first I just want to talk how the show has had such a massive impact on the rest of the country.

I don't think for one second the show has changed peoples behaviour or any other way, shape or form of how they act. The thing I think it has had the most influence on is the "slang" or terminology Americans are using nowadays.

The show is so influential, that instead of someone informing you an ugly girl wants to have sex with you, you get told that a grenade is DTF. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining about the new terms, I love stuff like this, being from cockney descent, where I can tell you that I'll meet you by the apples in the quacks as I have a dodgy New Delhi because of the bees I spent on the ruby last night. (Translation = I'll meet you by the stairs in the doctor's as I have a bad stomach because of the money I spent on the curry last night.)

So I'm going to have to start going to the gym, launderette and tanning salon all in one day if I want to fit in, I suppose. I'm positive there are far more terms I am unaware of and will be hearing in the upcoming weeks.

Now the moment you've all been waiting for - my opinion on the show. I'm going to keep it short and sweet otherwise I'd be typing for hours. So here is my quote:

"It's so fake. Don't watch it."

Football, Not Soccer.

Ok then, so I guess it's time for my real first entry which actually relates to the subject of the blog.

A "real" football

I've been living here since August, so about 5 months now. I didn't experience the "cultural shock" that was a term thrown about by other ex-pats who found it difficult to settle in. I think this was because I was fortunate enough to speak the only language known on an international scale - football.

Well, I call it football, along with the rest of the whole world, apart from America. Which leads me into my main point. Where did the yanks get the term "soccer" from? This football/soccer dilemma was the first major difference that hit me, besides the fact that everyone sounded different to me and kept saying "Wow, I love your accent!"

I chose to do my Cultural Literacy Studies research project on the reasons why Americans did not adopt the world's most popular sport as their primary pass-time. I mean, they're American, so wouldn't they want to be the best at it? They have such driven and determined attitudes in all sports, so why not this one?

I'll spare you the boring, historical reasonings behind the lack of "soccer", but it was mainly to do with a lack of success, new sports arising (baseball, basketball, American football and ice hockey), and the fact that they were unable to change the rules to their liking.

Despite my thorough research (total lie there, I spent amount twenty-five minutes searching on Google and bluffed a reference list), I never came across anything relevant to origination of the word "soccer". I'm sure it's very easy to find out, but I really can't be bothered doing anymore research.

So my American muckka's, where's it come from? And don't even try giving me the whole: "We play real (American) football!"- because we all know that's just a pile of crap. The "real" football is the one played with our feet, which is why I guess we called it "foot"ball.