So I went to look up *why* we call football soccer, and this game we play with the hands, football (handball was apparently already taken, heh).
It turns out that the original term is British, not American. The proper name for the game one plays with only ones feet (mostly) is 'Association Football' which was shortened eventually by the Brits to 'football' with 'Association' becoming 'soccer' (slang shorthand for Association) along the path. It was called 'soccer football' when the Americans came up with their sport.
American football descended from 'rugby football' (as did Canadian football). It's always been differentiated from soccer football, but over time lost the 'rugby' prefix over here (as it differentiated itself), much as the Brits lost their 'soccer' prefix over there.
The funny part is that the Brits tend to get a bit picky on this word, yet it's *their* term.
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