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Comment by bemmu | Hacker News Reader

I find myself thinking of scenarios where most choices would be correct. I play ____ the soccer team.

Pleased to meet you. I am an active sporty guy and 'I play in the soccer team'.

Pleased to meet you. I am a tick, a playful little parasite. I like to jump from person to person in small groups. Today, 'I play on the soccer team'.

Pleased to meet you. I am a playful infectious disease. 'I play inside the soccer team'.

Pleased to meet you, I am Lot's son. As you may have learned in a famous bible story, my mother turned into a salt statue while taking a casual glance at the destruction of Sodom. Less known is that she belonged to a soccer team and the whole team also turned to stone while in the middle of an important game. Today, the team has become a famous landmark and the grounds for a soccer school to which I belong. 'I play at the soccer team'.

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This has to be best best comment I've seen about the project yet! You mind if I use this as an example for my students? (I mean, I will anyway. I just want to know if you mind.)

Aww, thanks :) Go ahead.

> (I mean, I will anyway. I just want to know if you mind.)

That's an excellent way to ask for permission while being clear that you don't need permission.

I'm always wary of asking for permission in situations where it's not absolutely needed. What if the person says no? Then if I go ahead and do it anyway, I look like a jerk.

I'll have to remember the way you did it.

So if it doesn't list English in the top three native language guesses, does that mean my English is very ungrammatical, or merely that it's ungrammatical in a particular way? All three languages were Scandinavian but I have no connection there.

The NY Times had a similar quiz that attempted to predict your region and, IIRC, predicted mine fairly closely. I didn't get such accurate results this time so I'm wondering if my grammar is slipping ...

The #1 guess for me was Norweigian, while English was #2. I've spent all my life in the American South.

I wouldn't say any of those options.

I'm British and I would play for the soccer team (well the football team, but I'm not going to quibble about that).

You can also play with the soccer team. Which team do you play with at the university? I play with the soccer team. (rather than the rugby or netball or basketball or whatever teams)

And yes, they should have used 'football', and let each locality think they meant a different sport :)

I call both Soccer and AFL Football, and call Rugby, Footy. I only ever talk about AFL with my mother, Soccer with friends and Rugby with no one.

It can be really confusing when all three are somewhat popular in one country.

League or Union?

I'd call rugby league "footy", but rugby union will always be "ruggers".

Leauge, I just call Union: Union.

Maybe it's a regional thing (I'm from the East Midlands), but playing with the team has a different connotation from playing for the team to me - although both are valid sentences.

Playing for the team suggests that I'm part of that team. Playing with the team would say to me that I'm not part of them, but I've been co-opted for a game or something like that.

Oddly, I would say "playing with the orchestra" rather than "playing for ...".

The way I speak...

Pleased to meet you. I am an active sporty guy and 'I play on the soccer team'.

Also, the last variation, would be 'I play at The Soccer Team'. Landmarks are (usually) capitalized.

True. I was thinking of some way not to capitalize it, any ideas?

I'm a musician, and I ridicule the athletic group I hate the most using my music. 'I play at the soccer team'.

Meld Apple's iProducts with Google Play, then launch it at a team's media event: iPlay at the soccer team.

I thought the same, then decided to answer the questions with the assumption that I didn't require a tortured situtation to make something grammatical. There's always an edge case, but the quiz was looking for common use.

Also, where I am, a sporty person can either play 'in' or 'on' the soccer team, no parasite required.

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