Wicked Good Guides / Wicked Good Guide to Boston English /

Bubbla

That's a water fountain to you, bub.

Bizah note: People in Wisconsin also drink water from "bubblers."

Comments

people in australia also drink from a bubbla!!

Maddie on January 8, 2004 04:15 AM.

Bubbla is from Rhode Island and then it made its way outward toward Wisconsin and Massachusetts!!!

Mr. E on February 26, 2004 10:24 AM.

^^i second that!!

sarah on June 27, 2004 10:38 PM.

only people from the fox valley region (appleton, south to neenah) of wisconsin drink from bubblers. no one else in the state even knows what they are.

laura on July 31, 2004 10:39 PM.

Actually, "bubbler" is used almost exclusively in the Milwaukee area as well. I'm not sure why that last comment claims it is only a fox valley thing.

Josh on August 17, 2004 02:57 PM.

It's odd that the same expression could be in Mass and Wisc only? What happened in between? My son (a Florida cracker) called it a bubbla once at school apparently got it from me, and got strange looks. I had to translate Bostonian into floridian for him!!!!

michelle on September 20, 2004 10:18 PM.

St. Josaphats church on 6th st. and Lincoln Ave had first know "Bubbler" in Milwaukee area aprox 1901

joel on September 23, 2004 03:07 PM.

i love bubbla it gets me in da mood!!!

robert on January 18, 2005 04:13 AM.

South Central Wisconsinites call them bubblers, too. I always thought it was just a Wisconsin thing.

Rebecca on January 22, 2005 09:55 PM.

Yea, they're bubblers in Watertown as well (halfway between Madison and Milwaukee).

Aaron on January 25, 2005 08:27 PM.

hmm.... Newton native here. When I think of "bubblers" (we don't have the accent in Newton. We say the "r"), I think of those ones out in public parks where the water really bubbles up or else what other people would probably call a "water cooler," like in an office. I know you can use bubbler for any kind of water fountain, but I only use it for those two.

rachel on April 18, 2005 12:08 AM.

sorry, rachel but ya wrong cuz i know a ton o folks from newton an they all don't say theiah ah's. maybe it cuz they ah boston peeps that made it big and not foamah bahnies that settled in the area. nice try though.

rascal on July 21, 2005 09:48 AM.

I used to live in Madison Wisconsin (that's wi-SCAYHN-sn very nasal)... bubblers are what you drink out of... water fountains (as they are known everywhere else I've lived) are what's in the park.

D on September 23, 2005 03:54 PM.

My room mate is from Florida. He never understood BUBBLA. He calls it a water fountain. I tell him "it's a BUBBLA!!!"

Tracy D. on October 26, 2005 04:37 PM.

I lived in Boston this summer, and 2 weeks after I got home (to Nebraska), I had to go up to Milwaukee for a week. In both places, they called the fountain a 'bubbler,' and I thought that it must be some kind of reverse phenomenon...like, everyone in the country called it that besides Nebraskans. Thanks for clearing that up.

Tara on October 29, 2005 10:53 AM.

I was in the army with a guy from Boston and the first time he said Bubblah, we all gave him a strange look. Then when he explained it was really a bubbler, we all just about pissed our pant laughing. Not only had none of us heard a water fountain called a bubbler before, but it was the accent too. Waddya want, I am from Jersey (its not new anymore) and I was with a bunch of Texans.

Alex on December 3, 2005 09:21 AM.

I'm from WI, and we don't say bubbler all that much. Most people understand what you're talking about if you say bubbler, but it's still "water fountain"

Isabela on December 15, 2005 07:48 PM.

We don't have bubblers ((or "bublahs", as the case may be)) here in whitewater, near watertown. Just water fountains

Iz on December 15, 2005 07:51 PM.

I HATE when people write with a Boston accent. My accent is as bad as anyone elses (or as good as I like to think) but I do not feel the need to use it in writing. ie Theiah You sound ridiculous

Erin on December 29, 2005 01:38 AM.

I'm from WI (northeast) and I have to disagree with Isabella. Most people over here would never say water fountain; I go to school in Boston and was shocked to see they're the same.

But yeah, bubbler and NEVER water fountain, it's easy for me to remember because I never have to change it!

Shannon on January 5, 2006 03:57 AM.

ha......im from the south.....and i have NEVER used bubbler.I always say water fountain....and i find it kinda wierd that some people say bubbler.It doesnt really make any sense to call it a bubbler.Water comes out,not bubbles,so why?lol!!!!!!!

Jessica on March 12, 2006 06:11 PM.

It's weird, I think Wisconsin has Patriot's Day too... Look up Patriots Day on wikipedia, I've never actually met anyone from wisconsin but confirmation would cement some strange links between Mass and Wisconsin.

Rich on May 19, 2006 01:51 PM.

Up here in New Hampshire we kinda have a similer accent...or maybe it's just my family - my mums from methuen so her's is real thick.. in manchester (manchvegas) we also say bubblah at West High school manchester, hooksett, and bedford all go here but people from bedford say water fountain and they look at us like we're queeah. they don't say wicked either....thats somethin that comes natural to me...o well theyre all a bunch of preps anyway

Nicole on May 29, 2006 06:25 PM.

All your bubbler questions answered:

What is a Bubbler?
History of Bubblers
Merriam-Webster OnLine lists the bubbler as:

Main Entry: bubbler
Pronunciation: 'bub·bler
Function: noun
Date: 1914
1 : a drinking fountain from which a stream of water bubbles upward
2 : one that bubbles


We have traced the origin of the modern bubbler back to 1888 and a small waterworks company in Kohler, WI.

This new-fangled product shot water about 1" straight up and you drank from the "bubble" of water created, the excess of which ran back down over the sides of the nozzle.

This company, called Kohler, was already well known for its water faucet production. In fact, Kohler is still one of the nation's leading producers of faucets. But a man with a vision, Harlan Huckleby, came up with an idea that revolutionized the way the world drinks water.

He called it The Bubbler, and Kohler immediately patented the product and promoted its trademark name. Other waterworks manufacturers copied the product, but weren't allowed to use its original name. The imitations went by names like "The Gurgler" and "The Gusher", but those names didn't catch on.

The competition's products eventually saturated the market, and bubbler became just another name. Yet, it is still used today in parts of the world; mainly, Wisconsin and Australia.

Today, bubblers stream water from a nozzle in an arc projection, thus allowing the user to drink with ease.

Heather on July 10, 2006 12:43 PM.

This is the history of the bubbler from wikopedia. Any real question on who really started the bubbler? Yep, that's right. It's all because of us cheeseheads!!!

bubbler
A typical BubblerBubbler is a trademarked name that refers to a drinking fountain.

History of device
The Bubbler was developed in 1888 by the then-small Kohler Water Works (now Kohler Company) in Kohler, Wisconsin, which was already well-known for its faucet production. While Harlan Huckleby is credited with the actual design, it was Kohler that patented it and trademarked the name. The original Bubbler shot water one inch straight into the air, creating a bubbling texture, and the excess water ran back down over the sides of the nozzle. It was years before the bubbler adapted the arc projection, which allowed the drinker to partake more easily.

The Bubbler concept took off and there were many copies. Since the name was trademarked, other companies named their fountains "The Gurgler" and "The Gusher". In the end, the generic term "drinking fountain" became the standard term used in American English for a device that shoots water into the air for purpose of drinking.

Current usage of term
The term is still used in several regional dialects of the United States such as in Wisconsin (mostly in the southeast part of the state, centered on Milwaukee, where it is considered part of the local dialect; residents of southeastern Wisconsin often state that the term is used within a "five county radius," however, the term's use has spread throughout the region, beyond five counties in the area), the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, states in New England, as well as in Australia. Oregon is also known to be quite familiar with the term, specifically in the Portland region where in the late 1800s Simon Benson installed 20 fountains.

Term variants
Some people only call ones that are outdoors "bubbler" and some vice versa. Some residents of Milwaukee refer to them as "water bubbler". Most residents of southern Wisconsin refer to water fountains, both indoor and outdoor, as "bubbler". For some people in the Boston area, the term "bubbler" is limited to fountains with water that shoots straight up. This entry is from Wikipedia, the leading user-contributed encyclopedia. It may not have been reviewed by professional editors (see full disclaimer)

Anne N. on March 16, 2007 02:35 PM.

A bubbler is also known in Milwaukee

Leslie Zukrow on April 13, 2007 07:51 PM.

bubblah is said all over Mass not just out west . people in dot southie eastie westie rozzie jp and hp say it. in my school if someone says waterfountain no one knows what their talking about. its is bubblah almost everwhere in the city. Ive lived here my whole life and that is 18 years and its always been this way

Sarah on April 20, 2007 08:24 PM.

I'm originally from Worcester, 40 miles west of Boston, down the 'pike. We called the fountain the bubla, and the restrooms the basement, also. We also had grinders, sub sandwiches heated in a pizza oven.

garrett on May 31, 2007 12:58 PM.

I live in Hopkinton, MA, i have never called it a bubbler, ive always called it a water fountain, my dad, on the other hand calls it a bubbla, and also says b'dayduhs. BUT, my mom is from NY, so I might have gotten it from her. lol. TRUE YANKEES FAN.

Nikki on December 28, 2007 07:33 PM.

Fitchburg native heah! We called 'em bubblahs in school when I was a kid. Been in the Navy since '90 and used to get lots of strange looks for sayin that! That is till I pointed out the tag on the scuttlebutt (see bubblah, water fountain)shut off valve to a shipmate on my last ship...it read "COV (cut-off valve) to bubbler"!

Shawn G. on January 28, 2008 11:01 AM.

I heard "bubbler" was originally a naval term, which slipped into common speech in southern New England and then was carried over to the Northern Midwest by cranberry growers from Southern New England.

The last part of it is what I would have guessed the first time I heard they also use the term in Wisconsin.

cranberryhead on March 19, 2008 03:27 PM.

I think that much of the speech in Wisconsin, Michigan, Minnesota comes from New England and Upstate New York, because that's where our original settlers came from in the 1800s. I think there's where you get a link between Massachusetts and Wisconsin. The accents may have changed somewhat, but some of the words stayed like bubbler.
BTW, I'm from the Milwaukee area.

Carl on April 19, 2008 02:05 PM.

Bostonian here.
A water fountain are those sculptures on the commons that spew water from there mouths in the summer and are used as toilets in the winter.
A bubbler provides drinking water.

When I moved away to western mass for college, all my friends - who were from various parts of New England all made fun of my my use of this word so we started a poll and would go around asking everyone we could whether they used bubbler or fountain. It wound up being pretty evenly dispersed.

audrey on April 23, 2008 09:55 PM.

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