A lot of my foreign-born students learned their English from United Kingdom textbooks or even spent time in classes in the UK. Most of them are largely unaware that the English language differs somewhat from country to country. It all seems comfortably similar compared to the range of languages in other countries such as China. But when they go to put a talent or skill on their resume for a school application, they are headed for a misunderstanding they have not imagined. Today’s example is for those students who are proud of their skills in, say, dance, tennis, soccer or lacrosse. In the United States, this doesn’t make them sporty.
For the UK-
Sporty– It means you are involved in sports and good at it, perhaps even as a semi-professional. You are known to be a fit person and probably outfitted with sportswear so that you can be highly active at any time. Example: Sporty Spice of the Spice Girls.
For the USA-
Sporty– It only means one thing—that you are a car that is not classified as a sports car but has many of the same features. (In the UK, you will find a version of this down at definition 3 where it can’t hurt anyone.)
Athlete– You are a professional athlete, or you are thought of as the equivalent of one because you are a successful high school or college performer on at least one sports field.
Athletic– You are fit and strong and probably spend a lot of time dabbling in multiple sports with notable amateur successes.
Sportsperson– You are a sports enthusiast who probably tries to engage in several sports whether successful or not and probably also enjoy sports as an enthusiastic spectator.
You might also say sports-minded or sports-oriented, but these are relatively clumsy terms with vague meanings.
If you are preparing your school resume in the USA, and were considering using the word “sporty” to describe yourself, you probably meant either “athlete” or “athletic” depending on which is more appropriate based on the definitions above.
Fun Facts:
If you are of the World War II generation, you would call a person “sport” to mean generous. It derives from being a “good sport” or showing “good sportsmanship” (respectful behavior) when you lose a game, but it was used far more broadly.
On the other hand, using the phrase “very sporty of you” would be somewhat the opposite—a sarcastic way of saying that someone has displayed a severe lack of generosity. It does not mean that you are in any way athletic. This phrase is still known by Baby Boomers, which if read by them as school application evaluators, would make the word “sporty” the very worst word you could use on a resume.