Country names and the way they are shown in sports and news

Scougar · 5 Jul 2011 at 08:52

Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed this in sports and news over the past few years:

It used to be that if you were referring to say.. the team of Canada, you would say the 'Canadian' team. In the news they refer to things as Mexico, rather than Mexican, or England rather than English.
Why have they started doing this?

I mean it's even in the commentary in football they say the country name rather.. it seems so odd and incorrect.
Thoughts?

Fenris · 5 Jul 2011 at 09:01

Probably because it would imply the entire team is of that specific nationality.

Honestly I don't see what's wrong with it.

Scougar · 5 Jul 2011 at 09:08

Because say 'English' or 'Canadian' is ferring to the nationality not the ethicity, although I had my suspicions about this.

It just seems odd they started doing this. And the problem for me is that I don't see why the media deems it reasonable to destroy the English language. Surely I'm not the only one that noticed?

off topic: (A bit like the BBC suddenly started saying "seventeen hundred", rather than "one thousand seven hundred").

krooton · 5 Jul 2011 at 09:32

Scougar said:
Is it just me, or has anyone else noticed this in sports and news over the past few years:

It used to be that if you were referring to say.. the team of Canada, you would say the 'Canadian' team. In the news they refer to things as Mexico, rather than Mexican, or England rather than English.
Why have they started doing this?

I mean it's even in the commentary in football they say the country name rather.. it seems so odd and incorrect.
Thoughts?

Surely your only use the adjective when saying the word team afterwards.

So you can say "Canadian team" or "Canada", and be referring to the same thing.

Cosimo · 5 Jul 2011 at 10:02

Must say that I haven't noticed and if I did I wouldn't be bothered about it.

Scougar · 5 Jul 2011 at 10:04

Krooton Indeed. "Canada team" just seems odd to say don't you think? Where as "Canadian Team" or "Mexican team move the ball...." doesn't seem odd.

It's not just in sports.. look at the recent news report for Duke William landing his helicopter on water.. it refers to "Canada tour: Duke lands Sea King on water". I thought it would have been better to say "Canadian Tour..." but.

Maybe I'm just old school.

mehuk · 5 Jul 2011 at 10:16

In football I cant remember many commentators saying, the Canadian team move the ball - more like Canada are knocking it around... isnt that a more American type phrase 'Team USA' etc. Also at International level saying the England team means that the country is being represented... if they said the English team, then who is that? Manchester United are an English team.....

As for Canada tour, i look at it like Tour of Canada.. so they have just butchered that for the headline. Where as Tour of Canadian is wrong. Thats my take.

rG-tom · 5 Jul 2011 at 10:45

A bit closer to home and it is definitely done like that.. The England team has played very poorly during the qualifiers, rather than the English team.

It makes sense though, as it is the team of England, rather than just an english team. Ie manchester united are an english team, but not the England team...

rG-tom · 5 Jul 2011 at 10:46

mehuk said:
In football I cant remember many commentators saying, the Canadian team move the ball - more like Canada are knocking it around... isnt that a more American type phrase 'Team USA' etc. Also at International level saying the England team means that the country is being represented... if they said the English team, then who is that? Manchester United are an English team.....

As for Canada tour, i look at it like Tour of Canada.. so they have just butchered that for the headline. Where as Tour of Canadian is wrong. Thats my take.

Lol teach me not to refresh before replying

Scougar · 5 Jul 2011 at 11:07

OK, maybe I'm going mad.. but I'm sure I remember it being said as 'adian..' 'ican' etc, rather than the country name. If they were saying "Canada are moving the ball around..." then I would have reason to bring it up, but it's more like "The Canada players are moving bell.." which just doesn't seem right... and definately not how I remember it being said by commentators in many previous years.

Nexus · 5 Jul 2011 at 12:21

Scougar said:
Krooton Indeed. "Canada team" just seems odd to say don't you think? Where as "Canadian Team" or "Mexican team move the ball...." doesn't seem odd.

It's not just in sports.. look at the recent news report for Duke William landing his helicopter on water.. it refers to "Canada tour: Duke lands Sea King on water". I thought it would have been better to say "Canadian Tour..." but.

As others have already pointed out though, that's referring to the nationality and not the country.

Prince William on Canadian Tour is the same as saying...
Prince William on English Tour.

It makes far more sense to say the following:

Prince William on Canada Tour.
Prince William on England Tour.

Do you see?

Scougar · 5 Jul 2011 at 14:24

Yes, my command of English is just fine and I see, I'm just saying has anyone else noticed it's different to a few year's ago when I'm sure they didn't do this?