It’s a room

When did the word room get replaced with the utterly pretentious and overblown word space?

A substitute teacher entered my classroom a couple days ago and said, “This is a great space. Your students are a lucky bunch.”

“It’s not a space,” I said. “It’s a classroom.”

Someone came to our house for the first time a few weeks ago and said, “This space has a lot of potential,” referencing the under-furnished section of our home that we refer to as the living room.

I hear brides and grooms constantly referring to ballrooms as beautiful, charming or unique spaces.

I once heard a friend refer to his basement as a space with a lot of potential. 

Walk through the rotunda of the US Capitol and declare it to be an amazing space and I'll buy it.

Enter the National Cathedral and proclaim it to be an awe-inspiring space and I can live with it. 

But a basement?  A classroom? 

A living room, a bedroom, a classroom and a bathroom are assigned the moniker of room for a reason. It's what they are.

What the hell is wrong with the word room?