Quote Originally Posted by TsPoet View Post
The "pure bred" show dog is a Staffy - the mutt is a pit.
Well ... the purebred conformation dog is an AKC AmStaff - the purebred working show dog is a UKC American Pit Bull Terrier. And the AKC acknowledges that AmStaff is a breed name given to a dog that was historically commonly known as a pit bull terrier, among other names.

Quibbling about the name is useless, IMO. Certain dogs have the appearance and temperament of a bull-and-terrier, and there will be people who will call them pitties or pit mixes - either proudly or fearfully - regardless of whether they have papers and if so, what the papers say. After the anti-German fervor of the World Wars faded, people quietly went back to calling their "Alsatians" German Shepherd Dogs, and when GSDs were maligned for their supposed viciousness in the 1960s, I don't remember anyone going back to calling them "Alsatians," either.