BallReviews

General Category => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: bamaster on June 22, 2004, 07:49:29 PM

Title: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?
Post by: bamaster on June 22, 2004, 07:49:29 PM: I knew this lady who got offended if you called the place she worked a "bowling alley"... she would correct you, "it's a bowling center!"

Of course she did this because she was always trying to elevate the image of bowling and she genuinely believed that "alley" had a negative vibe to it.

So what do you call it?

Is it a bowling alley or a bowling center?

Tony
http://www.allBowling.com
Title: Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?
Post by: T Brockette on June 23, 2004, 10:56:31 AM: I have always called them bowling alleys, but don't let
my wife, who runs one hear me say that or it's "Smack"
upside the head.
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Tracy
If you want to play, train your body.
If you want to win, train your heart.
Title: Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?
Post by: Ragnar on June 23, 2004, 10:58:22 AM: Most of the time I revert to my childhood when I talk about where people bowl. I learned to bowl at the alleys, not a center. However I now bowl in a center, the difference being that the Bowlaway (my youth) had 16 lanes and a couple of pinball machines for most of its history (for a while it did have a pie and sandwich counter - yes, I know, you like pie). Zeppoz (now) has 16 lanes, a bar, a poker room, lots of pinball games, video games, pool tables, a full service restaurant, a golf simulator, a full service pro-shop, you get the idea.
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"Things fall apart; the center cannot hold; mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,"
Title: Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?
Post by: Pinbuster on June 23, 2004, 11:01:24 AM: Alley
Title: Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?
Post by: Debina on June 23, 2004, 11:07:11 AM: It depends on where I'm bowling.

Sunday league is definitely an "alley." It's old, no tech updates, the wood lanes are rumored to have been resurfaced last in the 1970s, both inside and outside need a coat of paint and there are potholes in the parking lot large enough to swallow up an SUV. Why do I bowl there? It's the toughest shot in the area, and my husband and I are trying to avoid becoming "house" bowlers.

Monday league is in a modern "center" housed inside a casino. It's bright, shiny and new. Most of the time it's clean, even though it's only two and a half years old, there are constant software updates and improvements being made. Why do I bowl there? It's where my pro shop and coach are. It's where I help coach the youth leagues. It's closer to home. And after bowling there's a choice of three restaurants and three bars for celebrating or recuperating depending on that night's scores.

Interestingly, at the alley, everyone who works there bowls, from the counter people to the snack bar girls. Any one of the employees is likely to ask you about joining a league if you show up for open bowling. At the center, the people working the counter, snack bar and bar don't bowl for the most part and don't ask if you're interested in leagues, lessons, or even if you know how to work the scoring system. They put in their time and go home. Go figure.

Deb
Title: Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?
Post by: cpo_bee on June 23, 2004, 12:17:57 PM: Lanes!!
Title: Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?
Post by: Smash49 on June 23, 2004, 12:45:17 PM: Tony

You've been hangin with Susie Minsew!!! I know it is a respect thing for centers and an image situation. I grew up in an age where many places were known as Dungeons!!!. There are still some places I would consider Alleys but Centers are now becoming the proper terms.

Smash49
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Smash49
robert@bowlersslidesock.com
Bowler's Slide Sock: Simply the finest slide product on the planet! This sock will make you want to throw everything else away!
www.bowlersslidesock.com
Title: Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?
Post by: LuvThatWhiteDot on June 23, 2004, 12:52:19 PM: You don't shop in an alley, you shop at a shopping center, right? So why not bowl at a bowling center?
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White Dot
Raising kids is like trying to nail Jell-o to a tree.
http://faldo.atmos.uiuc.edu/FBL/mkting.html

Edited on 6/23/2004 12:49 PM
Title: Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?
Post by: T Brockette on June 23, 2004, 12:52:46 PM: Smash,

Couple of places in Big D that I could think of.
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Tracy
If you want to play, train your body.
If you want to win, train your heart.
Title: Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?
Post by: Smash49 on June 23, 2004, 02:51:26 PM: The last days of Circle(The Anchor Motel in sight) and there was a place up on Central that always had no dry wall. Buckner/Grove Country when the air was out. I know people that had their cars stolen from there even with a police station in the parking lot. And one of the best Irving Lanes!!! I made the mistake of saying bowling alley in front of Susie and I thought she was going to have me put my hands out so she could swat me with a ruler!

Smash49
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Smash49
robert@bowlersslidesock.com
Bowler's Slide Sock: Simply the finest slide product on the planet! This sock will make you want to throw everything else away!
www.bowlersslidesock.com
Title: Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?
Post by: da Shiv on June 23, 2004, 02:58:03 PM: Around this site I tend to say "bowling center" or "house" but in speech I say bowling alley.

"Bowlin' alley" just flows off the tongue. It's like poetry.

Shiv
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Listening to the monotonous staccato of rain on my desk top
Title: Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?
Post by: Daytonstroker on June 23, 2004, 05:09:34 PM: I go old school....bowling alley!!!!
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"To bowl or not to bowl that is the question"
Title: Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?
Post by: TheBowlingKid25 on June 23, 2004, 05:12:16 PM: I bowl in a "center", I only say that because, like previously said, we have the dance floor, the snack bar, the full pro shop, yada yada yada! I would rather bowl in an "alley" anyways, there a lot more friendly, customer oriented, feels like a family!
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16 years and still going strong! 16 years old that is! The names Warrior Princess, Xena..Warrior Princess
And why would I "saw" pins in half, THATS A WASTE OF PINS!
Title: Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?
Post by: janderson on June 23, 2004, 05:15:12 PM: Some people say that bowling alleys got big lanes.
We like bowling in that house.
This pretentious lady works at the bowling center.

All amounts to the same thing to me. You say tomato...

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Kill the back row (or maybe this should read "make your spares, dummy")
Title: Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?
Post by: strikealot on June 23, 2004, 05:30:27 PM: ive always refered to it as a bowling alley
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90% of the game is 50% mental!

Im not even supposed to be here today!

what did the 5 fingers say to the face...SLAP
Title: Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?
Post by: RevZiLLa on June 23, 2004, 07:21:14 PM: My opponents call it a House of Pain

I call it the Local Singles Hottline
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Sounds like a freight train
Churning down the lane
Making pins fall like rain
And opponents writhe in pain
Title: Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?
Post by: MSC2471 on June 23, 2004, 11:54:37 PM: Growing up the term was always a bowling alley to me- as most places didn't have much beyond a snack bar and a game room outside of the bowling lanes. Nowadays a modern center can have a nightclub, a full restaurant, a bar, a birthday party room, miniature golf place, and so forth down the line- so in those cases I would consider it a bowling center...

Matt
Title: Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?
Post by: seadrive on June 24, 2004, 10:32:35 AM: Well, as I recall reading, someone said that when we called them alleys, bowling was very popular, and now that we call them centers, bowling is... not so popular. Maybe there's something to it...

I've been calling it the bowling alley for over 40 years, not about to stop now, except when I'm talking to someone who I know insists on calling it a bowling center. Hey, I'm not religious about it.

Whatever blows your skirt up.
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seadrive
Cogito ergo bowl
Title: Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?
Post by: Rick Wunder on June 24, 2004, 10:44:08 AM: For years, I have heard people refer to the bowling alley where I bowled (or others) as a bowling center. I never got on the bandwagon.

Now that I work in one, I have a tendency to say "bowling center" more often than not, especially when speaking to customers.
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RW (THB)
Title: Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?
Post by: Ernie McCracken on June 24, 2004, 11:01:44 AM: I bowl in alleys. I used to bowl in a center, but all the disco lights and dancing distracted me. I'm there to bowl, not dance to the YMCA song on the freakin' approach like all them other dorks.
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Evolutionary. Revolutionary.
Title: Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?
Post by: da Shiv on June 24, 2004, 11:30:26 AM: quote:
I bowl in alleys. I used to bowl in a center, but all the disco lights and dancing distracted me. I'm there to bowl, not dance to the YMCA song on the freakin' approach like all them other dorks.

Excellent point. Alley it is!

Shiv
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Listening to the monotonous staccato of rain on my desk top
Title: Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?
Post by: 9andaWiggle on June 24, 2004, 02:16:49 PM: This reminds me of something that happened when I was in college. We decided to rent a trailer to live in while going to school. The person in charge of the park got offended when we called it a trailer, and insisted they were mobile homes. Well, it's got 3 axles and a hitch, so it's obviously a TRAILER! LOL. Funny how people react to different names for the same thing. By the way, I call it a bowling alley most often... Except for them corporate owned ones, they are centers because they don't have the right atmosphere to earn the coveted "alley" title!
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9~

Yawn! Did you say something?
Title: Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?
Post by: cosmo on June 25, 2004, 03:15:46 PM: I believe that "center" is the politically correct term - but who cares about being politically correct.

For me it's "alley".

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got mule?
Title: Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?
Post by: ThongPrincess on June 25, 2004, 06:37:44 PM: Our local YABA Association Secretary replies to anyone calling the centers alleys or the channel the gutter this way. I drove down the alley and parked my car. I stepped across the gutter and walked into the Bowling Center. I then proceded to roll my ball down the channel.

I usually call it a bowling center or the house I bowl in. As for the channel rather than the gutter, some how a channel ball just doesn't sound right.
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Age is only a state of mind. Since I lost mine years ago, I must be really young