Anecdotal evidence: as kids, we were hiking down some railroad tracks (outside Milwaukee) to see where they went (picture “Stand By Me”), when we spotted an abandoned baseball diamond. The outfield was overgrown, the old ads painted on the wooden fences were faded, but there was a funny fountainish contraption. And it worked! You turned a valve and water squirted straight up maybe four inches until gravity made it flop over.
Right, and I have seen them advertised for sale as bubblers. These particular ones attached to the faucet on the outside of the house. The garden house attached to it also.
That is possibly true. However the term is used in some rather isolated places and may not have the same origins everywhere. ‘Bubbla’ can refer to any kind of water dispenser around here, but mainly the water fountain type.
If you hear a Virginian say the words “coat” or “boat” you will learn two things. First of all, you will instantly know that they are from Virginia, (You’ll think “Oh! That must be what TruCelt was on about the one time!”). And, secondly, you will finally understand why the “a” is there in the spelling of those two words.
If you say “warsh” instead of “wash”, you’re in the swath of territory that runs from MO, through southern IL, s. IN, s. OH and s. PA.
When I moved from Ohio to NYC, I had to learn to say “soda” rather than “pop”. Then when I moved back here, I had to re-learn “pop”, as well as the Mary-marry-merry thing.
I have been told that the way I say ‘fish’ lets people know that I’m from Durban, South Africa. But I cannot for the life of me hear what I’m pronouncing differently, at all, ever.
Curiously the next closest accent to my own from outside South Africa is a New Zealand one, and they are also accused of saying fish incorrectly. Thus I can only conclude that we are saying fish correctly and the rest of you are wrong :p.
The first time I heard the ex (raised in the Chicago suburbs) say she was going to leave the dogs out, I (raised in the Chicago suburbs) thought “What the hell would you want to do that for?”
And I sometimes hear myself say “da” instead of “the” and I feel a little ashamed. Thanks, SNL Superfans, now I have a complex.
West coast: “miniature golf”/“mini golf” East coast: “putt putt”
West coast: “soda” (sometimes “coke” is used as a generic for any soda) Midwest: “pop”
SF bay area: “flea market” southern California: “swap meet”
The East Coast usage is likely due to the existence of the Putt-Putt chain of miniature golf courses, which is based in North Carolina, and the locations of which are primarily in the Southeast.
This thread reminded me of a really weird and violent book I read once, set in the ancient Middle East, where some people trying to deny their ethnicity to escape an act of ethnic cleansing were outed by pronouncing a word in a signature way, resulting in them all getting killed.
