> > Nope. I said that:
> >
> > 1. Sweat from physical exertion is an indicator if it is a sport or not,
> >
> > 2. the possibility of seriously injuring oneself is another indicator if it's a sport or not, and
> >
> > 3. Any game where you can stand around, drinking beer while playing, isn't a sport.
>
> At first I thought maybe the sport/game distinction comes in when you cross some theoretical level of competitiveness (either against yourself or others) instead of just doing it for fun. But that doesn't really work either.
>
> I don't think you can say something is a sport or a game, any more than you can say whether someone is a terrorist or a freedom fighter. It's relative. The *exact same activity* might be considered primarily a sport, a game, a hobby, a workout, an art form or who knows what, according to which participant you ask.
>
> Brunnen-"has never met anyone who failed to understand what either word meant in the context of the conversation, so doesn't really see it as an issue"G

When words are ambiguous in one form, we try to compare similar words with the same root.

I think Faux Pas' definition would work for "athletics", because to me the word "athlete" does connote "big, sweaty man (or woman) who courts physical danger and sneers at those who stand around drinking beer".

However, I don't think it quite works for "sports", because to me, "sportsman" (any PC variants? "Sportsperson"?) connotes "laid-back member of the English aristocracy who stands around a lot drinking beer and talking about darts and polo".

Then again, that method of comparison breaks all the way down for "games", because to me "gamesman" connotes "British version of a gardener, only with hunting somehow involved". (Or is that game*keeper*? Are they the same? It's been too long since my P.G. Wodehouse jag.) And though hunting might be considered a game by those with little empathy for animals, just to drag us back onto the controversial current-events cicruit (kidding!), I'm not aware of a context that defines gardening that way. (A side note: in hunting the object is to *kill* game, *bag* game, and, eventually, to *dine* on fresh game, but never simply to *get* game. Whereas, in basketball, soccer, tennis, pool, high school dating and RinkChat répartée, the latter is always a goal but the former never are. An interesting etymological phenomenon.)

But, seriously, I always thought it's a game if you play it for fun, it's a sport if you play it to win, and it's an "athletic activity" if you play it to sweat a lot and get hurt. :) Highly subjective definitions, I know, but they work for me...

Ar"never was a jock"thur