Sport/sports

[WebbPA]

Why is it "sport" in England



but "sports" in America?

[C]

Why is it "sport" in England



but "sports" in America?

Vintage 90s BBC screen!

Probably because that's the name of the BBC department. Is/was NBC Sports a channel? BBC Sport of course, is not.

[WebbPA]

Sorry, I'm not familiar with BBC logos.  I picked the first small one that showed up in Google images.

American networks have sports departments.

[machineman9]

The modern BBC sport logo is rather plain as seen here but that's because they usually give each sport that they show a different logo. For the olympics they make their own intro, same for F1. Usually they look rather naff (especially for the F1!)

The BBC sport page contains lots of sports. I don't quite know why it's not called 'sports' but they probably have a reason for it. Maybe ask them?


For example, on the BBC F1 intro they show BBC Sport the the name of the sport, which I imagine is just to keep that sport exclusive to what they're showing. By contrast, here is the ITV intro which looks far better, but they also include the Sport and not Sports. The ITV one is for between breaks, BBC doesn't have breaks during it's showings so the intro is longer as it only comes up once.

[Craig.]

I've gotta disagree with you MM. The BBC's intro is far better. The only thing that annoys me are the sound effects. They aren't needed as they spoil the music, which was something 99% of us were looking forward to. But it's a good take on the classic bbc intro of the F1 car being pieced together.
The ITV one in contrast is incredibly annoying for music, and far too british biased (like their entire program) with little emphasis on the rest of the grid. Just didn't like it.

The original topic.
What I find ironic is, in this case you say sports, we say sport. Yet you say Math, and we say Maths. Go figure that out. 

[machineman9]

I've gotta disagree with you MM.

More women, more fire and Moby. Gotta love ITV's intro

[Craig.]

they are actually racing along the various different circuits. It merges from Monaco to Singapore, to various others that I cant be bothered to piece together lol.

[SeanTK]

Per the original question, I think it just narrows down to corruption of the language on both sides of the ocean, and in this case, I don't see a reason to get worked up over it. 

The US:

Sport = one specific activity. (basketball, baseball, golf, etc.)

Sports = multiple athletic or competitive activities.

The UK:

Sport = apparently serves both US definitions, and it's up to the user to figure out based on context?


The US:

Math = The short form of the word mathematics.

The UK:

Maths = Same definition.


The US:

Final (referencing aviation) = i.e. "The aircraft is on final (approach)."
Also recognized by the FAA as the proper wording.

The UK:

Finals = i.e. "The aircraft is on finals (approach)."

I personally can't figure this one out, since I have yet to see an official aviation document for the UK or any European country recognizing the "s" on the end. 


It's not something we can change since people are set in their ways, so I guess we'll just have to get used to it as various regions around the world communicate with each other more and more. 

[machineman9]

'Finals' sounds like it's an abbreviation of 'final approach'. Just a shortened down and more casual version. At least, that is how it sounds to me. Probably to aid the objective of keeping radio transmittions short and to the point... I don't know what 'finals' could be mistaken for, so extending it to final approach just adds time on the air.

[C]

[quote]
Finals = i.e. "The aircraft is on finals (approach)."

I personally can't figure this one out, since I have yet to see an official aviation document for the UK or any European country recognizing the "s" on the end.

[Hagar]

[quote]Per the original question, I think it just narrows down to corruption of the language on both sides of the ocean, and in this case, I don't see a reason to get worked up over it.