What is a "bubbler".

[pkbites]

I've been told that the term "bubbler" is generally only used here in Wisconsin. Everyone here knows what it is, but folks in the cheeseless 49 usually don't have any clue what the hell we're talking about. I want to know if that's true. Is this term used anywhere else in America, and if so, what does it mean? I'll tell you what it means here when I get a few replies.

[DMC]

I haven't heard the term before, but I'll wager a WAG.


A beer?

[rpinrd]

A bubbler is a drinking fountain, I believe.

I think I heard this from Southern friends though. . .

[pkbites]

Originally posted by rpinrd
A bubbler is a drinking fountain, I believe.

I think I heard this from Southern friends though. . .

Hey, that's right. I'm surprised it only took 2 posts.
Now, is this term used aound the country? Is the "Wisconsin only" thing I've been told just a myth?

I've been to 40 states, and so far I've found nobody knows what it is.

[rpinrd]

I learned it from a girl when I was in the 6th (7th?) grade when I lived in Rochester, N.Y. That was 16 years ago. However, like I said, I think she was from somewhere in the south, maybe Georgia?

Then again, I don't think I've heard it since. So how's that for storage and recall of useless information? (I wonder if maybe I had a crush on her??? Hmmm..)

[Hanna]

I've lived in Wisconsin for the past ten years and I have never heard "bubbler". I call it a drinking fountain. I live close to the Minneapolis/St. Paul metro area, maybe it's that strange "Twin Cities Metro Area" influence. I knew what it was because it has come up before that Wisconsinites call it a bubbler.

[dtilque]

In downtown Portland, Oregon, there are the Benson bubblers. A Benson bubbler is a set of 4 drinking fountains branching out from a single pipe. There's a number of them on various streets.

There is no button on the Benson bubblers. They just run all the time. At least they used to. Now they have timers so that most of them shut down at night during the dry season. The rest of the year, they run all the time.

The original ones were donated to the city in 1912 by Simon Benson, hence the name. More were added in 1976. There's a picture of one near the bottom of this page (http://www.dailyemerald.com/archive/v98/3/970516/cleanup.html).

[bibliophage]

Old-time New Englanders call drinking fountains "bubbluhs." A "fountain" to them is a vending machine that sells "tonic". Tonic is what is known in most of the country as "soda" or "soda pop". (Where I grew up it was simply "pop.") Unlike their older relatives, younger New Englanders tend to use the same words that are common in the rest of the country.

[bibliophage]

You can find just about anything on the Internet. See Use of Bubbler as a synonym for drinking fountain (http://www.emich.edu/~linguist/issues/5/5-1377.html)

Bubbler seems to be in common use in Rhode Island and neighboring areas, in eastern Wisconsin and adjacent parts of the U.P. of Michigan, and around Sydney, Australia. For the record, the old-time New Englanders I have heard use the term all come from southern New Hampshire and southwestern Maine.

[AKAmame]

Yup, in Sydney it is a drinking fountain. Bubblers are operated by the user (usually by a small lever for outdoors and older types, or by a button for newer and indoors types). Never seen an ever-running type, but we don't have the water to spare.

Given the heat here, particularly in summer, fresh drinking water always used to be available in public areas like parks and bus stops from these fountains. Bubblers lost popularity in the (at a guess) '70's due to concerns about disease transmission, particularly TB.

Newer designs which reduce the liklehood that a user would put their mouth to the opening overcame that concern to some extent, but were in turn overtaken by the designer water fad (there are a couple of shops here that only sell water - bottled water from different countries. With, I kid you not, tasteing notes).

Bubblers are still extant in school playgrounds - the popularity of jerking the lever, or sticking a finger across the outlet hole while a friend is drinking, and thus saturating the friend, seems to be eternal.

[Tamex]

It's a Milwaukee area term, IME. I don't think it's used much by cheeseheads in the western part of Wisconsin within that eeeevil Twin Cities influence. My husband and his family are from Milwaukee, and they all say it, and now he's taught the term to my four-year-old daughter! She's going to be mercilessly teased in school for this someday, I just know it...

[woolly]

FWIW I am aware of the term bubbler as a drinking fountain being used in Queensland, Victoria and the western districts of NSW as well as Sydney.

Of course, in rhymming slang ;
bubbler = bubbling brook = cook

[handy]

I have a handy book, a dictionary:

bub•bler \"be-b(e-)ler\ noun (1914)
1 : a drinking fountain from which a stream of water bubbles upward
2 : one that bubbles

(C)1996 Zane Publishing, Inc. and Merriam-Webster, Incorporated. All rights reserved.

[manhattan]

Without claiming to read the OP's mind, handy, I'm going to guess that pkbites already knew what a bubbler is, and simply wanted to know where that regionalism occurs. How, precisely, did your dictionary definition help in that effort?

[Lance Turbo]

I'm a former Chicagoan who is now in North Carolina, and I have never used the term. However, my Rhode Island relatives, young and old, use the term bubbler all the time. This is right in line with Bibliophage's information. Also I did run across a newspaper article about drinking fountains in which the word bubbler pops up a few times. The weird thing is that this article was written by a reclusive genius in the Chicago area.

Why do some water fountains produce two streams of water that merge into one? (http://www.straightdope.com/classics/a3_279.html)

[Flymaster]

Bubbler is a Boston term for a bubbler.

From the Wicked Good Guide to Boston English:
Bubbla

That's a water fountain to you, bub.
http://www.boston-online.com/glossary.html

I've never heard it used outside of New England, but apparently it is. AFAIK, it is 99% a Boston word, but perhaps not.

[Flymaster]

Originally posted by bibliophage
Old-time New Englanders call drinking fountains "bubbluhs." A "fountain" to them is a vending machine that sells "tonic". Tonic is what is known in most of the country as "soda" or "soda pop". (Where I grew up it was simply "pop.") Unlike their older relatives, younger New Englanders tend to use the same words that are common in the rest of the country.

For the record, although "Tonic" is being phased out (it is still found in the tonic aisle of grocery stores in some places, but not many), bubblaa is alive and well. As a 19 year old Bostonian, I have NEVER heard the term "water fountain," except to explain to a non-native what a "bubbla" is.

[KCB615]

Another Bay Stater checking in: bublah is the only thing we call a "water fountain." When I went to college in New Haven, people would look at me like I had 3 heads when I'd ask them where the bublah is. Not as bad as asking for coffee milk or chourico (thats pronounced sher-eece) down there, but still pretty bad.

[snac]

Grew up in Chicago, think of it as a Wisconsin term.

You can find the word in print in the classic children's book The Shrinking of Treehorn, by Florence Parry Heide. I believe Heide was a Racine native...if not it was near there. The book was originally published in 1971 by Holiday House, an NYC company; I suspect it wasn't easy for Ms. Heide to get the word past her editors--unless they were fellow Wisconsinites or, perhaps, old New Englanders...or from Sydney.

[pkbites]

Originally posted by bibliophage
You can find just about anything on the Internet. See Use of Bubbler as a synonym for drinking fountain (http://www.emich.edu/~linguist/issues/5/5-1377.html)



That was a good site bibi.


And yes Manny, I did know what a bubbler was. I'm just surprised at how many out of staters I meet that have no idea what we're talking about here. For some reason they all think it's some kind of bar or restaurant.

[Ike Witt]

Bubbler is also something similar to a bong: http://www.jokerzwild.com/glass.htm

[Phobos]

Growing up in Eastern Massachusetts, I always heard it called a "bubbler". I didn't realize that other people called it a "water fountain" until college. A water fountain is a big thing in the central square of a town with statues n' stuff. :)

[handy]

manhattan, Im not quite sure what the OP intentions are either because the post seems to be a multi-part question without much clarification.

The dictionary reference is quite right for my state, California.

However, BUBBLER can mean a few things: OED 1. One who gets up bubble-companies; a swindler, cheat. (1720 POPE Let. to Digby 20 July, All the Jews, jobbers, bubblers, subscribers, etc. c1778
Conquerors 9 Bubblers and bubbled meanly Take their stand.) 2. 2. ‘A fish found in the Ohio river.

[Enos Strate]

I was born and raised in Georgia and never heard the term "bubbler" used as a synonym of "water fountain".

[Tretiak]

It isn't a Wisconsin term, it is an Eastern Wisconsin term. I grew up in Hudson, Wisconsin near the Twin Cities and had never heard the term Bubbler until I went to Madison and the Milwaukee area kids called it that. And it is really just around Milwaukee, I am pretty sure, not even the entire Eastern part of the state.

[Patty O'Furniture]

It is quite clear that the OP'er knew what a bubbler was and was doing a study to find out who else knew what it was and where those people live.

I first heard the term in Charleston, SC. I was on my way out of the hotel and asked the girl at the front desk if there was a water fountain anywhere around. She looked at me as if I has asked permission to put my finger in her nose. She turned and looked at another girl next to her and they exchanged puzzled looks for a few seconds. She turned back to me and repeated what I had said in slow motion, possibly hoping that some ray of light would shine down on her.

"Wah-der fown-dun?"

She was deeply puzzled. Fortunatly, another hotel guest translated my request into the local lingo, and a sudden look of enlightenment came over her face as she pointed towards the elevators- the location of the nearest bubbler.

The amazing thing is not that such an oddball term as bubbler exists, but that any person with an IQ higher than a small bar of soap couldn't figure out what a "water fountain" was, even if they had never before heard the term. It seems to me that if you know what water is, and you know what a fountain is, you should be able to figure out what a water fountain is.

[flodnak]

Before I headed off to my first day of kindergarten, my Wisconsin-born father warned me not to put my mouth on the bubbler.

Since I had no clue what a bubbler was, I was absolutely paranoid about letting my mouth touch anything that wasn't obviously food for the first month or two of school. Maybe that was what my father had in mind?

[Athena]

It's a very regional term. It wasn't common in Marquette, UP, which is about 90 miles from the Wisconsin border, or in the Twin Cities. But I know my cousins who grew up in Green Bay use it all the time. I think it's endemic to a small portion of northwestern Wisconsin.

[Tamex]

Originally posted by manhattan
Without claiming to read the OP's mind, handy, I'm going to guess that pkbites already knew what a bubbler is, and simply wanted to know where that regionalism occurs. How, precisely, did your dictionary definition help in that effort?

My dictionary helps in the effort. This is from the American Heritage Dictionary, Third Edition:

bubbler n. Northern U.S. A drinking fountain. Used especially in Wisconsin.

I was quite surprised to hear that the term is so common in Boston, as well. I wonder if this is reflected in American Heritage Dictionary's fourth edition.

I live in what would be considered the "Northern U.S." (Minnesota), and the term is never used here, unless you are some sort of freak from Milwaukee :p. That device is always called a drinking fountain here. (A water fountain is one of those big things in the park with statues, etc. that spurts water.)

[fiddlesticks]

Originally posted by Tretiak
It isn't a Wisconsin term, it is an Eastern Wisconsin term. I grew up in Hudson, Wisconsin near the Twin Cities and had never heard the term Bubbler until I went to Madison and the Milwaukee area kids called it that. And it is really just around Milwaukee, I am pretty sure, not even the entire Eastern part of the state.

I grew up in a town 30 miles south of Green Bay and it was always bubbler. I finished my high school career in a small town southeast of Madison and it was bubbler there as well.

I would venture to guess that perhaps the east-west bubbler/water fountain line could be placed along the Wisconsin River. Can anyone report what they call it in LaCrosse? I can imagine that up in Eau Claire it is probably a "water fountain".

[Palandine]

Grew up in Menomonee Falls, Wisconsin, where I drank from the bubbler at school.

When I moved to southeast Missouri in the seventh grade, they looked at me like I had two heads when I called the water fountain a bubbler.

Also, of course, setting a kid on a water fountain in Menomonee Falls and turning on the water (soaking said kid's pants) was called a "bubbler ride." :)

[malden]

We drank from "bubblers" at summer camp in Wolfeboro, NH when I was a kid. That was the first and only time I heard the term. I always thought it was a New England-only thing, but I guess I was wicked wrong. :)

As recently as 1987 I saw "Pitcher of Tonic," meaning what I would call "soda", on a restaurant menu in Sanbornville, NH. Even most New Englanders I've met aren't familiar with that term.

[Flymaster]

Originally posted by malden
As recently as 1987 I saw "Pitcher of Tonic," meaning what I would call "soda", on a restaurant menu in Sanbornville, NH. Even most New Englanders I've met aren't familiar with that term.

Then you aren't talking to the right New Englanders. Of course, if you were at the Poor People's Pub, I hope you got a Tshirt.

[bibliophage]

Originally posted by Flymaster

Then you aren't talking to the right New Englanders. Of course, if you were at the Poor People's Pub, I hope you got a Tshirt. [/B]Are you recommending the Poor People's Pub? I've driven past it a dozen times but I've never been in.

[fish in the sky]

Smack dab in the middle of Wisconsin, near Stevens Point it was a bubbler. Water fountains are big things in parks with statues in the center.

[slight hijack] Another Wisconsin term: traffic lights are called "stop 'n' go lights" which to me has always sounded kinda quaint. How widespread is this term? [/slight hijack]

[nineiron]

Here in Massachusetts, it's considered sort of an old-fashioned or quaint way to say "drinking fountain." These are the same people who call a pen an "ink pen" or the curb the "curbing."

(But, no, we don't drink "frappes" or "pop" here, just milkshakes and soda.) :)

[Flymaster]

Originally posted by nineiron
Here in Massachusetts, it's considered sort of an old-fashioned or quaint way to say "drinking fountain." These are the same people who call a pen an "ink pen" or the curb the "curbing."

(But, no, we don't drink "frappes" or "pop" here, just milkshakes and soda.) :)

Despite the fact that you're clearly from western Mass, which everyone knows isn't really Mass at all, NOBODY in Mass says pop. It's either "tonic" or soda. And I've never considered bubbler to be quaint. It is in VERY frequent usage on the North Shore, to the point that signs in public places will point you towards the bubbler.

And yes, bibliphage, I'll reccomend the Poor People's Pub. It's passable food, but you've just gotta stop in once for the T Shirt. It's like Wall Drug or a Hard Rock Cafe.

[tomndebb]

sticking a finger across the outlet hole while a friend is drinking, and thus saturating the friend, seems to be eternal.
Amen to that! I once saw a fountain in Europe that included statuary depicting the youthful Bacchus sticking his thumb over the opening of the fountain to direct the stream of water away from the pool (while an elderly Silenus above him was "spitting" Bacchus with a mouthful of water).

[Muffin]

Originally posted by pkbites
I've been told that the term "bubbler" is generally only used here in Wisconsin. Everyone here knows what it is, but folks in the cheeseless 49 usually don't have any clue what the hell we're talking about. I want to know if that's true. Is this term used anywhere else in America, and if so, what does it mean? I'll tell you what it means here when I get a few replies.

A bubbler is to a cheese head what a fluffer is to the rest of the world. Why the difference? Think long and hard about the term cheese head.

[pkbites]

Originally posted by Palandine

When I moved to southeast Missouri in the seventh grade, they looked at me like I had two heads when I called the water fountain a bubbler.





Now THAT'S exactly what I'm talking about! They give that "look", you know the look don't you Palandine. It's that "what in the hell is a bubbler" look.

By the way, I grew up in West Bend, Wisconsin (32 miles north of Milwaukee) and you got a drink of water at the "bubbler", booze at the "Beer Depot", gasoline at a "filling station", traffic signals were indeed "stop-n-go lights" and the ice cream truck was the "Dilly Wagon". How wide spread are those terms?

[nineiron]

Ah, yes. "Western Mass isn't really Mass at all." Hey, that never gets old; and it's so true too! :)

[Flymaster]

Originally posted by nineiron
Ah, yes. "Western Mass isn't really Mass at all." Hey, that never gets old; and it's so true too! :)

:D

I was right though, wasn't I?

[malden]

Yes, Flymaster, it was the PPP! Glad you've heard of it. I got a shirt there in the mid-eighties and wore it until it was about ready to crumble to dust. I got another a few years ago but I came at the wrong time of year and their stock was pretty well picked over. I'm way overdue for a Danny's Dog & a new shirt, so I guess I'll go there next time I'm in New England. And I'll use the bubbler while I'm at it.

[Stockwell_Day]

Hi everyone.

There is another use for the word bubbler.
In horticulture we sometimes place plants
into those big plastic buckets, cut a hole in the
lid and place a net shaped like a pot into the hole.
The plant (already mature) is placed into this
contraption so that the roots are all sticking through
the net and into the bucket. Inside the bucket
we put the nutrient solution and water and an airstone
connected to a pump which bubble the water/nutes
all over the roots of the plant. This way the
plant get mucho oxygen to its roots, they like that.
Plants grow like crazy in these things. We call them
bubblers.

take care

[pkbites]

Welcome to the SDMB Stockwell :)

[Stockwell_Day]

Thank you kindly! :)