This nasty, bland little word is threatening to drive to extinction a host of English words that have a lot more colour and meaning.
Perhaps it is because everyone wants to be seen as being at the centre, not at the periphery. Perhaps it's because we don't want to define things too narrowly, so we choose the vaguest possible word. In some cases (like "Correctional Centre" and "Canadian Firearms Centre") it is pure euphemism.
Whatever the reasons behind the phenomenon, it deserves its own Web page, so here it is. The following is a list of some of the words and phrases being driven out of the language by that one-size-fits-all word. I haven't made any of these up -- I've seen at least one example of each.
| Agency, bureau, desk, office | Centre | (E.g. complaint centre, claims centre) |
| Arena, Gardens, etc. | (Sports) Centre | (E.g. Montreal Forum replaced by Molson Centre) |
| Asylum | Mental health centre | |
| Bank | Banking centre | (so called by Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce) |
| Boarding kennels | Boarding centre | |
| Body shop | Collision centre | |
| Brokerage | Investor centre | |
| Building, Tower, etc. | Centre | |
| Church | Worship centre | |
| Clinic | Health centre | (Also Dental centre, Eye centre, etc.) |
| Club | Friendship centre | |
| Command post, headquarters | Command and control centre | |
| Concert hall, opera house, theatre | Performing arts centre | |
| Court House | Judicial Centre | |
| Depot, station | Transit centre | |
| Exhibit | Appreciation centre | (Henry Moore Appreciation Centre at Art Gallery of Ontario) |
| Experimental station, laboratory | Research centre | |
| Garden | Horticulture centre | (See also Nursery) |
| Gymnasium | Fitness centre | |
| Hardware store, lumberyard | Home centre | |
| Hospital | Medical centre | |
| Jail, reform school | Detention centre | (see also Prison) |
| List | Centre | (Favorites Center in newer versions of Internet Explorer) |
| Lodge | Centre | (E.g. Masonic Centre) |
| Meeting hall | Convention centre | |
| Memorial | Memorial centre | (Oklahoma City National Memorial Center -- thankfully renamed Oklahoma City National Memorial & Museum) |
| Mosque | Islamic centre | |
| Multimedia computer | Media centre | |
| Museum | Interpretive centre | |
| Nursery | Garden centre | (See also Garden) |
| Nursing home | Care centre | |
| Oven | Baking centre | (At Subway sandwich shops) |
| Pharmacy | Medicine centre | |
| Planetarium | Space centre; Centre of the Universe | |
| Playroom | Activity centre | |
| Pool | Aquatic centre | |
| Pool hall | Billiards centre | |
| Preschool | Early childhood centre | |
| Prison | Correctional centre | (see also Jail) |
| Registry | Centre | (Canadian Firearms Centre) |
| Retreat house | Centre for spirituality | |
| Rental office | Welcome centre | |
| Saw | Cutting centre | (At Home Depot stores) |
| School | Learning centre | |
| Shelf | Centre | (displays in stores called Battery Centre, etc.) |
| Shop, Store | Centre | |
| Soup kitchen | Meal centre | |
| Studio | Broadcast centre | (CBC Broadcast Centre) |
| Warehouse | Distribution centre |