.jpg)
A Trivial Day
I came to work 15 minutes early today and before I get to sit on my desk I was faced by someone who is having a problem with his leave. So I then ask what's the problem? He answered: "I'm having a problem with my leave application. I can't file for a leave tomorrow because the system won't allow me to".
So I asked for the reason why he is applying for leave and he said I am going to join tomorrow's soccer game. Out of the blue I flippantly said: "I don't like soccer and I'm not a big fan of the sport so I will not approve your leave".
"Please approve it for the sake of the team" said he.
With a game face I said "If you could answer my question then I would approve your leave. I know this is gonna be easy since you are a soccer player and a fan."
Then I asked, "Where is the word soccer derived from? or how did the word soccer come about?"
He asked me if I am serious and I said yes. The look on his face is priceless. So to give him hope I asked him that he can call a friend to help him out. To cut the story short he Google the answer for I did not say he can't Google it.
He got the answer right after 15 minutes of asking around and with the help of Google search. He made my day and I made his day with a trivia. The word soccer is derived from the word association. It's an alteration of th word "assoc" as in Association Football.
The use of the term can be traced back to about 1880: it's documented as soccer or socca in 1889, and socker in 1891. Soccer seemed have become the most common phrase by 1895. Originally it was only university slang; it was habitual for English university students in the 1880s to abbreviate any word and then add on 'er' or 'ers' to it (so breakfast became brekkers, or rugby became ruggers).
I dare him to ask his friends in the soccer team to answer the same question and I am pretty much sure that barely 1 out of 10 knows the answer. The thing is it does not hurt if we get to know the things we like a little bit more. As what the late Ka Ernie Baron said 'Knowledge is Power'.
June 26, 2010 at 8:54 PM
hala noh? kaluoy sab. ganosebleed usa ang agent. LOL
June 26, 2010 at 8:57 PM
nag nosebleed sya kadali.. hehehhehe