i live in Sheboygan, when we were a kid my mom made hot tomales, it wasn’t until i was in middle school that i found out that everyone else calls them sloppy joe. my mom has always known it as hot tomales, as she was taught it by her mother who used the same term.
i suspect that this name comes from the great depression era, when struggling families used different ingredients to make food, but still refered to them by the original name… such as using egg noodles and tomato soup and calling it speghetti.
The name probably stuck over the years, and probably even pre-dates the “sloppy joe” name that we know today.
using the term “bubbler” as a term for water fountain will always be used in this area because of the Kohler Company which invented it. its like calling a bandage a “band-aid” its the same thing but the term “band-aid” refers to the a brand name the same way the term “bubbler” refers to a specific brand of water fountain.
and i pitty the fool who doesn’t enjoy a good brat fry 