PLAY or DO sport?

Question

I have a problem with the expressions "play" and "do" when it comes to sport.
The Internet is full of "Let's play sport". I tend to say "Let's do some sport", but since my native language is German, I might be completely wrong on this one.
Since I live in Japan, I hear twisted English every day. One of their favorites is "play .. (for anything).
What are the rules here?
I play tennis, soccer, (name of any musical instrument or board game)... I do (?) and karate.
I do (?) figure skating and ballet.
It seems that you play in group sport activities. If it's only one or two individuals, 'play' doesn't really fit for certain sport types.

I swim, run, jog, ski, etc. You don't play these at all.

I do paper folding (origami)?

Usenet · Accepted Answer

[nq:1]I have a problem with the expressions "play" and "do" when it comes to sport. The Internet is full of ... certain sport types. I swim, run, jog, ski, etc. You don't play these at all. I do paper folding (origami)?[/nq]
Never thought about this before, but one "plays" games; tennis, for example, is not a team sport like football, but people "play" both of them. They play poker and chess as well.
I do origami and crossword puzzles, but I don't think people "do" ballet." They "take" lessons in it, or perform in a ballet. I don't know what they say about karate, but it's not "play." One might say, however, "I play at karate (or anything else)," meaning I'm not serious about the activity.
Saying "I do football" or any game would be extremely informal maybe some kind of teenage lingo.
How do you say "I play football" in German? Or "I do origami"?

Carter
Carter Jefferson
http://carterj.homestead.com/

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I have a problem with the expressions "play" and "do" ... don't play these at all. I do paper folding (origami)?[/nq]
Hi...
I think we need another word her: STUDY.
Most folks Study Ballet or Karate or Figure Skating. "Do" wouldn't be appropriate, nor would "Play"
Adrian

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I have a problem with the expressions "play" and "do" when it comes to sport. The Internet is full of ... I hear twisted English every day. One of their favorites is "play .. (for anything). What are the rules here?[/nq]
If you are talking about a specific game or sport, then it is natural to say that you play that game or sport. "Do" is a more general verb, and if you can use a more specific one for the situation in hand, then you should do so.
[nq:1]I play tennis, soccer, (name of any musical instrument or board game)... I do (?) and karate. I do (?) ... 'play' doesn't really fit for certain sport types. I swim, run, jog, ski, etc. You don't play these at all.[/nq]
No, you don't, because these are verbs in their own right that perfectly describe the activity in question.
[nq:1]I do paper folding (origami)?[/nq]
John Welford
www.welfordwrites.com

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I think we need another word her: STUDY. Most folks Study Ballet or Karate or Figure Skating. "Do" wouldn't be appropriate, nor would "Play"[/nq]
Let's assume you are an accomplished ballet dancer. After that you don't study and sometime perform ballet as your job.
If you are asked what you do for your living, you can say: "I am a ballet dancer at the ...".
But what would you say if the structure should be: "I ballet." like in "I play soccer."

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I think we need another word her: STUDY. Most folks Study Ballet or Karate or Figure Skating. "Do" wouldn't be appropriate, nor would "Play"[/nq]
[nq:1]Let's assume you are an accomplished ballet dancer. After that you don't study and sometime perform ballet as your job. ... But what would you say if the structure should be: "I ballet." like in "I play soccer."[/nq]
Probably something like "I'm a member of the Boston Ballet." Next time I meet a ballet dancer I'll ask. One might say "I dance in the Boston Ballet," but that doesn't sound quite right.
Carter
Carter Jefferson
http://carterj.homestead.com/

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]Let's assume you are an accomplished ballet dancer. After that you don't study and sometime perform ballet as your job. ... But what would you say if the structure should be: "I ballet." like in "I play soccer."[/nq]
"I'm in the ballet," if your blank will accommodate three words. But "I dance" might be more usual.

Odysseus

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I think we need another word her: STUDY. Most folks Study Ballet or Karate or Figure Skating. "Do" wouldn't be appropriate, nor would "Play"[/nq]
[nq:1]Let's assume you are an accomplished ballet dancer. After that you don't study and sometime perform ballet as your job. ... But what would you say if the structure should be: "I ballet." like in "I play soccer."[/nq]
Practice.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:2]I have a problem with the expressions "play" and "do" ... don't play these at all. I do paper folding (origami)?[/nq]
[nq:1]Never thought about this before, but one "plays" games; tennis, for example, is not a team sport like football, but ... serious about the activity. Saying "I do football" or any game would be extremely informal maybe some kind of teenage lingo.[/nq]
It's not uncommon in California, and is too common in southern California, where people do lunch. I would expect the chef to do lunch and I would expect others to eat lunch. But more precisely, the chef can cook lunch or make or prepare lunch.
It's best to use a more precise verb when one is available, unless there is an established idiom or convention. It's common an appropriate to play games, but it's also common to do games in other languages.
I wouldn't object to somebody saying he does karate if it's used in informal speech, but I would not expect to hear somebody say he plays karate unless it's the name of a video game or something similar. A person who practices karate is more likely to say he's learning karate or she knows karate.

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]It's not uncommon in California, and is too common in southern California, where people do lunch. I would expect the chef to do lunch and I would expect others to eat lunch. But more precisely, the chef can cook lunch or make or prepare lunch.[/nq]
Here in Japan they go even a step further! In hundreds of Tokyo's railway and subway stations are kiosks that are run by an affiliated company of the rail network. I guess that you could say that the Japanese "do kiosk" since the ads lure customers with "Let's kiosk"...
If you love this nonsense, you'll like the stuff on http://www.engrish.com.

Murgi

Usenet · Answer

[nq:1]I have a problem with the expressions "play" and "do" when it comes to sport.[/nq]
That's "sports," sport. :-)}
[nq:1]The Internet is full of "Let's play sport". I tend to say "Let's do some sport", but since my native language is German, I might be completely wrong on this one.[/nq]
"Let's go shoot some hoops, play (base)ball, kick the (soccer) ball, throw some passes (AmFootball)" usually does the trick. Simply saying "Let's go play/do sport" doesn't mean much here in the US.
[nq:1]Since I live in Japan, I hear twisted English every day. One of their favorites is "play .... (for anything). ... play in group sport activities. If it's only one or two individuals, 'play' doesn't really fit for certain sport types.[/nq]
You've got the general idea here but I can't say why "do" or "play" is used in the examples above.
[nq:1]I swim, run, jog, ski, etc. You don't play these at all. I do paper folding (origami)?[/nq]
Still on the right track.
I am fairly conversant in German but I honestly don't recall the phrases used for the examples you give. Ich gehe Fußball spielen? Ich spiele Tennis? I just don't know. I do recall one woman who worked in my office in Germany who was kind of upset at her husband's activities at the previous night's social: "Er hat den ganzen Abend gepokert." In English we wouldn't make a verb out of the work "poker" and would have said, "He played poker the entire evening."
-Yukon Jack

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