Airsoft. What’s in a name?
I was thinking about sports and the names of sports. A lot of sports incorporate the word “ball” in the name of the sport.
Airsoft is not one of these sports even though the sport does use a ball of sorts, albeit very small and not just one. So should airsoft be called something else? Something with “ball” in the name like “Paintball”?
By the way, where did the name Airsoft originate? By some quick research online one cal tell that airsoft originated in Japan in the ’70s but there seems to be no mention of why the name “Airsoft” was chosen. Perhaps this was a term used in order to assure the public that these guns were a safe alternative to actual firearms. Either way that’s what it is and I would say it’s not a bad choice. “Soft-ball” was already taken, “Air-ball” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.
You might be thinking, “well airsoft uses BBs and at least that implies the word ball..” Well actually that is not really the case the word BB came from the designation of the size of projectile not from “ball bearing” like alot of us think.
So we are left to muse the origins of the name of the game, however we can muse gladly, as knowing why the game is called airosft is not a requisite to enjoying it.
