Separated by a Common Language

The World Cup has brought new opportunities to understand the sport and the British language used in on stats.

It's on the AOL site's scoreboard that unknowing and uninformed Americans are introduced to such terms as FT (final tally?), D (for draw?). That's in addition to the broadcasters' use of "nil" for zero or nothing that Americans use, and the plural verb to go with what we consider collective nouns--"Ghana ARE" for example.

The World Cup can be educational. It can also show people's ignorance. During the Tunisia-Saudi Arabia match, one of the broadcasters commented merrily about players "kissing the grass" when what the Muslim players were doing clearly was praying.