The 'infuriating' Matildas mistake Aussie fans are making at the World Cup
As the Matildas continue their charge towards World Cup history, Adam Lucius has noticed a simple mistake creeping in.
They're the sporting team on the lips of every Australian. The mighty Matildas are just two wins away from pulling off arguably our country's greatest ever sporting achievement.
Then how come – amid all the passion for the Matildas and the accompanying media frenzy - so many of us can't spell their bloody name correctly? Social media feeds have been flooded with fans congratulating the Matilda's – not the Matildas – on their success at the FIFA women's World Cup.
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It's only one little apostrophe out of place but it's infuriating the spelling and grammar pedants out there. After all, sport is all about the one percenters, right?
Even ABC's Media Watch – the self-appointed gatekeeper of journalistic morals and standards – is sticking an apostrophe in where it isn't required. Lovers of grammar and football have joined forces to bring to our attention this crime against the English language.
They argue we don’t call the Socceroos the Socceroo's or the Kangaroos the Kangaroo's - so why are we stuffing up the Matildas' name?
Expert explains proper grammar behind Matildas
Jonathon Lum is a linguistics expert at the University of Melbourne and a keen football fan. He sympathises with those grappling with the Matildas' – or Matilda's as some prefer – spelling and offered up some reasons why.
"I think there are at least a few factors that might make it more likely for people to use an apostrophe in the name the Matilda's compared to many other words or names," he told Yahoo Sport Australia. "Maybe people are not that familiar with the name Matildas yet. As many have recently pointed out, the Matildas have not always received this much public attention.
"And the name Matildas refers to a group of people, and people are often possessors. This means we frequently see the ending 's with a name - e.g. Kerr's goal, Arnold's save, etc.
"This may have an effect on how some people write down the name of a plural noun, which ends in the same sound. Because we are not so familiar with names in the plural form, we might be more likely to write the plural in an 'incorrect' way."
Simple answer behind common Matildas mistake
There may also be a more simple, plausible, reason for all the mistakes. Autocorrect!
It appears that perennial do-gooder – the one that likes to do our thinking for us – is offering up Matilda's as the go-to spelling for Australia's most popular sporting team. But, as one Matildas fan told us: "Who cares how they spell it as long as our name's on the World Cup!"
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