Do you ever see stores that use Centre instead of Center in the states?

22 comments

1. I don’t recall seeing that. Centre is a misspelling of center.

2. Nope

3. Yeah, some stores will use it to look fancy/pretentious.

4. Rarely. Usually just when they’re trying to sound “fancy” or something.

   That being said, there is a major street in Lower Manhattan called Centre Street. Unsurprisingly a lot of businesses in that area use “Centre.”

5. Eh yeah I’ve seen it. It’s just for effect. As a kid I lived near a town called Centreville, at the time it was founded the British spelling was still en vogue, I guess.

6. Only if they’re trying to appear stylish or exotic. It’s not something normally done.

7. I have an irrational hatred for the spelling centre because I LOST a spelling bee in like third grade for spelling it that way, in my defense it was because I was reading a British book and it had all those spellings in it. vile!!!!!!!!!

8. Nope

9. They exist rarely, and usually to sound fancy or high-culture. Which is probably pretty funny for people for whom “centre” is an unremarkable word.

   [Here is one in my city](https://sazca.org/).

   It is uncommon.

   This is widely recognized as a British English spelling, though; the word would not be perplexing to most people.

10. I put it in the same mental category as stores that add half-assed French to their names. “Le Shoe” is not more desirable than “Shoes”

11. The mall in downtown Miami is called Brickell City Centre, and that’s the only use I’ve seen. Funny enough, there’s also a roundabout outside of it

12. Where I live the is a shopping center called ‘City Centre’. It’s a misnomer because it’s not even close to the center of the city.

13. I have a couple of strip malls and they have Centre in the name.

14. It’s a silly affectation.

    There is also the ridiculous “shoppe” which is supposed to be an old fashioned word for shop.

15. In Canada that is the normal spelling. It’s a bit weird when you go there and see a WalMart Supercentre.

    It’s also a bit weird anywhere you see it when you realize how ridiculous it is. 😉 I think when I was young and I saw it in print I would pronounce it centree.

    Maybe it makes less difference in non-rhotic dominated England but here r is generally a very clearly pronounced letter and the e sound comes first.

16. Yes. Usually when they’re trying to be “fancy” or “sound European.”

17. There’s a town in Virginia called Centreville. It dates back to pre-revolutionary times, but evidently it was called ‘Centerville’ the standard American way originally.

    That’s about the only instance I can think of where something is called Centre the British way. Most will consider it a misspelling, not simply an alternate spelling from a different ‘branch’ of English.

18. Fortunately no.

19. Not often. Sometimes at Ren-faires, if a store is trying to sound fancy, or if it is a British Import shop.

20. Yes I have, in many towns that border Quebec.

21. Strip malls will sometimes have “centre” in the same, like “The Shoppes at Towne Centre”.

22. Actually, yes, I lived close enough to a country that used British spelling commonly (Quebec, CA) plus New England holds on to some old English customs (I mean it is called ‘New’ England) more than most parts of the USA. So it was common to go to the theatre, measure in metres, pick a colour, and go to the shopping centre.

    Outside of that area, I almost never see it.