What is a "cap"?

Source: http://www.businessinsider.com/wall-street-athletes-2012-3#josh-lewsey-13

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So, a "cap" is a point. That is news to me. A "cap" is awarded to a player who represents their country in an international sporing match or tournament. So, according to this piece on the Business Insider website, Josh Lewsey "won England 55 caps (points)".

What they really mean is that as a rubgy player Josh Lewsey was awarded 55 "caps" for representing England 55 times.

But Business Insider is a US-based website and the writers and editors are probably not very familiar with rugby, or the English tradition of "caps".

One of the common problems with internaitonal marketing is understanding terminology that is used in other markets. Every sports fan in England would understand what the "55 caps" meant and many of them might be perplexed that American's didn't understand the term.

But even though it is just a sporting term, the underlying problem of different terminology used in different markets is one that international marketers can not ignore.