Author Topic: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center? (Read 2895 times)

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

RevZiLLa · « **Reply #16 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

MSC2471 · « **Reply #17 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

seadrive · « **Reply #18 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

Rick Wunder · « **Reply #19 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)

Ernie McCracken · « **Reply #20 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.

da Shiv · « **Reply #21 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

9andaWiggle · « **Reply #22 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?

cosmo · « **Reply #23 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?

ThongPrincess · « **Reply #24 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

Author Topic: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center? (Read 2895 times)

bamaster

Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?

RevZiLLa

Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?

MSC2471

Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?

seadrive

Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?

Rick Wunder

Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?

Ernie McCracken

Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?

da Shiv

Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?

9andaWiggle

Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?

cosmo

Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?

ThongPrincess

Re: Bowling Alley or Bowling Center?