la pelota, el bal?n / la bola
My kids need to know
do you use la bola or la pelota for the following:
el beisbol
el f?tbol
el baloncesto
TIA
La pelota (more common in Latin America) and
el bal?n are used synonymously to refer to a ball used to play a sport. Specifically with the sports you mentioned in your post you can use either
la pelota de f?tbol, la pelota de b?isbol, and
la pelota de baloncesto (that seems a bit ironic). However, with some sports you will definitely hear one used more than the other and vice versa. As well, when people say- 'let's play ball' in my experience, I have always heard, have been taught and used
jugar a la pelota and not
jugar al bal?n. Not to say it does not exist but I have yet to hear it used. Certain expressions are more common in certain areas of the Spanish-speaking world than others. It's good to listen, observe and ask the right people.
In my opinion, using
la bola is the one you have to be most careful with because while
la pelota and
el bal?n refer to a ball used for sports,
la bola also refers to the shape of an object. An object shaped like a ball but not necessarily used in a sport, for example,
una bola de nieve- snowball (yes, for those of us who have to endure winter). However, in baseball,
la bola is used a lot in the plays but
la pelota is more commonly used when just referring to the ball. For example, a walk when a pitcher throws four balls as opposed to a strike is
una base por bolas- base on balls, or a fast ball is
una bola r?pida. Also, there are many other connotations for
bola (outside of sports) so unless you have complete understanding of the usage, I recommend
la pelota or
el bal?n accordingly.
The differences in terminology in some sports is something I like to observe since I watch sports in English and Spanish and Spanish primarily for soccer. One aspect that I noticed right away is differences in vocabulary used in Spain vs. Latin America. For example, there are three common ways to say a goalie (in soccer)-
el arquero, el portero or
el guardameta but the usage depends on the country. Other examples are:
el gol or
el tanto both mean
goal. As well, there are many English words used in Spanish in baseball whereas there are very few English words used in soccer (my observation) in comparison. This could be that soccer is not a dominate sport in the USA as it is in Latin America and Europe. Therefore, there is less of an influence although the passion and interest for the sport continues to grow in the USA.
I hope this helps. Instead of just giving the answer I like to add my observations about the usage of the words for clarity.
This has the potential to be a good thread. Hopefully others will add constructive observations.
-MP.