# Etymology of 'strip mall'

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-strip-mall/584627>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [June 7, 2011, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-strip-mall/584627 "2011-06-07T15:59:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-strip-mall/584627/21 "2011-06-08T16:31:42Z")

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> [@VinylTurnip](#):
>
> Yeah, in the real estate business you hear all kinds of euphemisms.
> 
> – **VT** , spouse of a real estate agent

Exactly what is strip center a euphemism for?

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**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-strip-mall/584627/22 "2011-06-08T17:45:03Z")

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> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#):
>
> Exactly what is strip center a euphemism for?

In my mind, “strip mall” is a well-known term (in the U.S., anyway) with some negative connotations— suggesting ugly, interchangeable stores devoid of personality, creeping suburban blight, etc.— whereas “strip center,” a term I’ve never heard before, seems like something one might use primarily to avoid saying “strip mall.” I could be wrong.

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**Author:** ![Powers](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/edb3f5/32.png) [@Powers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Powers)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-strip-mall/584627/23 "2011-06-08T20:13:38Z")

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> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#):
>
> I’ve never heard any other suggestion for its origin. Where did you get the idea that it comes from commercial strip?

The [Wikitravel article on the United States](http://wikitravel.org/en/United_States_of_America) espoused that theory until recently; the removal of that tidbit was what prompted my question.

> [@VinylTurnip](#):
>
> whereas “strip center,” a term I’ve never heard before, seems like something one might use primarily to avoid saying “strip mall.”

Yeah, except **Exapno Mapcase** said that it predates “strip mall”. That’s not how euphemisms work. =)  
Powers &8^]

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<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\
**Post date:** [June 8, 2011, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/etymology-of-strip-mall/584627/24 "2011-06-08T21:26:06Z")

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> [@VinylTurnip](#):
>
> In my mind, “strip mall” is a well-known term (in the U.S., anyway) with some negative connotations— suggesting ugly, interchangeable stores devoid of personality, creeping suburban blight, etc.— whereas “strip center,” a term I’ve never heard before, seems like something one might use primarily to avoid saying “strip mall.” I could be wrong.

Ironically, it’s the other way around.

Strip center was first by a quarter century. Strip mall emerged to give the strips the prestige of the malls, which had become the major force in American retailing by the 1980s. So strip mall was a slightly classier version of strip center.

As I said earlier, they’ve now become so ubiquitous and so alike that the luster has worn off, and malls aren’t something that anybody would willingly name oneself after these days. But that’s using hindsight. People in the 1980s didn’t think that way.

And strip center has always been fairly consistenly used; it’s just that [strip mall zoomed up in popularity in this century](http://ngrams.googlelabs.com/graph?content=strip+mall%2C+strip+center&year_start=1800&year_end=2000&corpus=0&smoothing=3).

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