I've seen said debate flare up on Twitter again just the other day, as well as some sports websites and columns I check out from time to time. There are a lot of hockey fans that line up on either side of this debate, and I have recently been drawn into it as well.

Hockey purists (and old geezers alike) seem to continue to refer to the garment that players wear as a 'sweater', while for as long as I have been alive (almost 39 years), it has been called a jersey, like the garments in other major professional sports. That being said, even I know that said garment started out life as a thick sweater made of wool, before being replaced sometime in the 1970's (or around there) by lighter materials, taking out the wool and making them more breathable and comfortable in the process.

While I understand that a lot of elderly hockey fans will continue to call it a 'sweater' no matter what anyone says, I'm sometimes shocked and dismayed by how rude they can be when you mention the word 'jersey' around them. At my workplace, we have Sports Fridays, where we can wear team apparel instead of our uniform. Recently, an elderly man commented on my co-worker's Maple Leaf jersey, saying it's the 'right sweater' and asked why we were dressed down. When I explained that it was Sports Friday and we could wear team jerseys like the Leaf jersey, he gave me a dirty look and left.

I did not expect to get involved in this, and I didn't have an opinion until now. If people want to call it a 'sweater', that's fine, as I like to call them 'jerseys'. This wasn't the first time I got a dirty look from someone for referring to hockey apparel as 'jerseys'.

What do YOU guys call it?

-J.

Simple.


Any sweater that doesn't open at the front is technically a jersey. So unless someone can show me a cardigan design for a sports team's clothing (curling cardigans went out of style in the 60's) it's a freakin Jersey.


Here's a simple way to remember.

Jersey for athletes or their supporters and sweater/cardigan for a University Professor and his leather elbow patches.

I've called it both.

I call it a jersey. I was also blissfully unaware that this is even a thing. Don’t people have better things to do?

I've always called it a jersey though I have heard references to them being called sweaters.

'Sweater' to me is a garment meant to keep you warm, even if it's not made of wool specifically but at least heavier material than the polyester used to make jerseys.

However, if it's a sweatshirt or a hoody made of heavier material with a team logo on it then that would be a sweater.

I call it "un chandail de hockey".



For the record, this story is called "The hockey sweater" in English.

housewife housewife:

I call it a jersey. I was also blissfully unaware that this is even a thing. Don’t people have better things to do?

Apparently not. Anyone over 60 gets offended for some reason when you call it a jersey.



-J.

housewife housewife:

I call it a jersey. I was also blissfully unaware that this is even a thing. Don’t people have better things to do?

Apparently not. Anyone over 60 gets offended for some reason when you call it a jersey.



-J.

I've called it a jersey, but the original term was sweater:

Jersey.

Jersey Royals are potatoes.