English Language & Usage Asked by Michael Foland on February 1, 2021
I have some students from China who use the term “sports meeting” to describe a day of sports competition between the various classes of students at their school. I suspect this is just a poor translation from the Chinese 运动会, but I want to check.
I am from the U.S., and I would call this kind of event a “field day.” In the Oxford Advanced Learner’s Chinese-English Dictionary, I find “sports day” as the British term with this meaning. “Sports meeting” does not appear in that dictionary.
So my question is, does anyone anywhere use the term “sports meeting,” and when you do, what do you mean by it? Also, if you could say where you are from I would appreciate that. Much thanks.
EDIT: Since the first few answers have not quite been on point, I have put my question in bold face. I want to emphasize that I’m not searching for any new words here. I simply want to check whether “sports meeting” is used in some variety of English that I might not be familiar with.
I am Chinese, but culturally American. However I come in contact with many native Chinese speakers including students and it sounds like a mistake that Asians typically would make. I also speak Chinese fluently. Calling it a sports meet would make sense and I hear this word used quite often, such as in "I'm going to the track meet tomorrow". I conjecture that adding the -ing is because they don't understand the English language very well since -ing is not a part of the Chinese language. Hope this clarified for you.
Answered by XH192 on February 1, 2021
Sports competitions between members of a single school are called intramural sports in the US. So you could call a day devoted to them the "intramural sports day" or the "intramural day".
See definition 1b
competed only within the student body (intramural sports)
Answered by John Feltz on February 1, 2021
Yes, it is used in British English, but mainly for athletics and equestrian events. I don't think I've ever heard it applied to team sports. The following links are examples of the usage from the Net:
A related but more specialised term is Higland Gathering where Scottish Highland sports like hammer throwing, highland wrestling and caber tossing are practiced. The following links are examples:
Answered by BoldBen on February 1, 2021
I tell you why most Chinese say "sports meeting", because it is used in a widely-used English textbook for primary school students.
Answered by user410753 on February 1, 2021
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