Word of the day #2: Girandole

Pronunciation:

\ˈjir-ən-ˌdōl\

Function:

noun

Etymology:

French & Italian; French, from Italian girandola, from girare to turn, from Late Latin gyrare, from Latin gyrus gyre

Date:

1749

1 : a radiating and showy composition (as a cluster of skyrockets fired together) 2 : an ornamental branched candlestick 3 : a pendant earring usually with three ornaments hanging from a central piece

I was afraid this word would completely stump me. In what way could this word possibly be culturally relevant?? But last night before going to bed, I realized there was a picture of a girandole right on my nightstand...

The lights of the Euro cup!

Fußball, fútbol or soccer as Americans like to call it, is kind of a big thing in Europe. I was able to experience it first hand while living in Austria during the Spring of 2008. Cultural differences were very apparent to me while comparing Fußball to football.
In soccer, it's okay if there is not a winner. In fact, there were three ties in the first rounds of the Euro cup (Eurocup results in Spanish). Of course once it got to quarter finals there had to be a winner, but winning just didn't seem to be quite as important.
Something else that was quite shocking was the celebration after each goal. In football there would definitely be a penalty for excessive celebration, but for soccer it's basically expected. They just interrupt play for a few minutes in order to tackle each other from excitement.
Which brings me to one last observation. There are no time-outs. None, zip, nada, kein. They have "extra" time they add on the end to "make-up" for lost time due to injuries or changes, while in actuality there is always more time wasted than made up.

In the end, our Friday (or Saturday or Sunday or Monday) night lights may look the same as is in Europe, but what happens underneath them is quite different.