"Cleats" vs. "soccer shoes"

I used to say cleats but found it uncommon for some people, though I had no trouble with soccer shoes. I have always lived in a Spanish-speaking country (Nicaragua) so I find it hard to know why that is. Are cleats only used in some places? Wikipedia also mentions football boots.

Solution 1:

The term "cleat" as a kind of shoe was entirely unknown to me until I encountered the word in Tom Lehrer's Masochism Tango . In the UK they are usually "football boots" (possibly replace "football" by a different sport, but not "soccer", which is a synonym for "football" in the UK). The individual protrusions on the base (which I'm guessing are also called "cleats" in the US) are called "studs" or "spikes".

Edit: I actually supposed for a long time that the "cleats" that Lehrer referred to were some bit of SM equipment, like the "lash" elsewhere in the song. It wasn't until years later that I discovered that this is an ordinary word for spiked shoes in the US. I don't believe the word is widely known in this sense in the UK even now.

Solution 2:

In the USA they are almost always called "cleats". (Note that there are different types for just about any outdoor sport, including what we call "soccer cleats").

I am starting to hear soccer cleats referred to as "boots" by some of my fellow players. I think they picked this up from watching English League soccer, and like to say it that way to show how serious they are about the sport. I could see that term catching on in a few years.