What's bugging you? [2019]

[et bbal]

I grew up in Fort Atkinson. They were occasionally called bubblers there. With the proliferation of those water coolers with the 5 gallon water jugs on top I think the term bubbler will again become more commonplace.

[MrTPlush]

If someone was going to give me $100 to find someone that would say "bubbler" I am going to Milwaukee...more specifically Cudahy because I know I will find a true local. No one voluntarily moves there.

[jerichoholicninja]

The term "bubbler" came from the Kohler company hence why it is a regional thing. For me growing up everyone called it a bubbler and it was quite a shock to find out there are people that don't call it a bubbler.

[SeaBass]

I had looked this up before and found it again, bubbler is used only in Wisconsin, Rhode Island and portions of Connecticut and Massachusetts including Boston. Weirdly the blog where I found the below image also stated they had respondents from a small area that included Sydney, Austraila that called them bubblers also.

 

[stoutdude04]

In Beaver Dam we called it a bubbler as well.

[hawing]

The term "bubbler" came from the Kohler company hence why it is a regional thing. For me growing up everyone called it a bubbler and it was quite a shock to find out there are people that don't call it a bubbler.

Yes. Bubbler was originally Kohler's name for a specific type of drinking fountain, and some Wisconsinites (and a few others) took to calling all drinking fountains bubblers, the way I and others call all disposable tissues Kleenex. I grew up in Janesville and learned it as bubbler.

 

This link should show a photo of that style of Bubbler: There are some on the grounds of the Wisconsin Capital.

[SeaBass]

The term "bubbler" came from the Kohler company hence why it is a regional thing. For me growing up everyone called it a bubbler and it was quite a shock to find out there are people that don't call it a bubbler.

Yes. Bubbler was originally Kohler's name for a specific type of drinking fountain, and some Wisconsinites (and a few others) took to calling all drinking fountains bubblers, the way I and others call all disposable tissues Kleenex. I grew up in Janesville and learned it as bubbler.

 

This link should show a photo of that style of Bubbler: There are some on the grounds of the Wisconsin Capital.

Actually there's an article that claims to "debunk the myth" that Kohler Co. was the origin of the Bubbler. (I really have done way too much looking around the internet about this subject haha)

 

Here's a snippet:

The Internet abounds with reports that claim the bubbler is a trademarked name for a product designed in 1888 by a man named Harlan Huckleby who worked for Kohler Water Works, now Kohler Co. and that Kohler actually patented the invention and trademarked the name.

 

As the story goes, the original bubbler shot water one inch straight into the air, creating the bubbling phenomenon that gave the product its name.

 

Interesting story, but so very wrong. It is time to debunk the Kohler bubbler story. First, no evidence can be found of a company called the Kohler Water Works, and it certainly was not a predecessor of Kohler Co., which did not exist in its present form and location until about 1900. Kohler village did not exist until 1912 when it was incorporated.

 

After consulting the archivist at Kohler Co. we find that the company has never claimed to having invented the bubbler, nor does it hold the patent. They’ve searched patent records and their own records to no avail. The same goes for the employee, Harlan Hucklebee. There is no record of Harlan working at Kohler Co.

 

But the company does make great bubblers, producing white, enameled cast iron, pedestal drinking fountains since about 1900. Vitreous china pedestal and wall-hung fountains were first offered around 1927. These fixtures were fitted with brass valves described as continuous flow bubblers or bubbling valves. However, Kohler did not manufacture these brass pieces themselves until 1926.

 

So, where did the urban myth begin? We may never know.

[zurch1818]

I grew up in Janesville and learned it as bubbler.

 

That's funny because I also grew up in Janesville and I learned it as drinking fountain. The only person I remember that called it a "bubbler" was my dad who was from Sheboygan.

 

From what I recall, you are wiser than me in terms of years. I wonder if "bubbler" is a word we millennials are unintentionally killing.

 

Maybe it is like the word "parlor" which we now call a living room?

[homer]

Anybody's grandma call a couch a "davenport"?

[AKCheesehead]

Anybody's grandma call a couch a "davenport"?

 

Yes. And a blanket an "afghan."

[GAME05]

I still call it a davenport now and again.

 

Sometimes I run into people who think that "dethaw" is an odd word to use.

 

My mother used to make us sweet cornbread and we'd put butter and syrup on it. Good. But down here in the South they think that's about the most abominable thing a person could eat.

[stalton]

Anybody's grandma call a couch a "davenport"?

 

Yes. And a blanket an "afghan."

 

I do call them afghans, however I have literal afghans, because my aunt liked to make them

[zurch1818]

My 93 year old grandma calls it a davenport. She also calls the kitchen counter a "cubbert" what I think she is meaning to say cupboard.

[Storm]

My mom and her twin sister called a roll of paper towels a roll of towel paper. They grew up near Fond Du Lac.

 

I grew up in Brookfield and still call it a bubbler and a davenport. When I was ten I was at a resort near Phoenix and asked a lifeguard by the pool where the bubbler was. She almost died laughing when she found out what I was looking for.

[homer]

Back in college (I went to Madison) my roommates went on a road trip to Chicago and asked someone where the Tyme machine was. The guy thought it was a prank and got really mad.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Back in college (I went to Madison) my roommates went on a road trip to Chicago and asked someone where the Tyme machine was. The guy thought it was a prank and got really mad.

 

 

I remember when Tyme's used to be all over.

 

Also, I live in Janesville, and work in Madison, and I have never in my life heard anyone call a drinking fountain a bubbler, except my aunt Hazel.

[SeaBass]

I still hear people call it a tyme machine and I cringe every time. Ya hey.

[AKCheesehead]

Hah I remember in college one time (uw-p) I was over in Dubuque and I asked someone if they knew where there was a Tyme machine. Also made for a confusing conversation. I had no idea they weren’t called that everywhere.

[LouisEly]

Anybody's grandma call a couch a "davenport"?

 

Yes. And a blanket an "afghan."

Are you my long lost cousins?

[et bbal]

Anyone ever hear the phrase "slap your momma good"?

 

My wife was in Kentucky and asked a waitress if the catfish was any good. She was told it was "slap your momma good".

Apparently, according to a google search, it means something is so good that when you get home you slap your momma because your mad that for years when she made that for you it wasn't as good as what you just ate.

[hawing]

Back in college (I went to Madison) my roommates went on a road trip to Chicago and asked someone where the Tyme machine was. The guy thought it was a prank and got really mad.

 

 

I remember when Tyme's used to be all over.

 

Also, I live in Janesville, and work in Madison, and I have never in my life heard anyone call a drinking fountain a bubbler, except my aunt Hazel.

Hey, I had a great aunt Hazel when I was growing up in Janesville. Hmmm.

We didn't interact with her much, though, and I don't know her take on the public drinking fountain object.

[DHonks]

Back in college (I went to Madison) my roommates went on a road trip to Chicago and asked someone where the Tyme machine was. The guy thought it was a prank and got really mad.

 

 

I remember when Tyme's used to be all over.

 

Also, I live in Janesville, and work in Madison, and I have never in my life heard anyone call a drinking fountain a bubbler, except my aunt Hazel.

Hey, I had a great aunt Hazel when I was growing up in Janesville. Hmmm.

We didn't interact with her much, though, and I don't know her take on the public drinking fountain object.

 

I remember reading a report that study out of Harvard (I think) declared “bubbler” the most regional term in the US. Pretty much found in SE Wisconsin and I think a little portion or somewhere far away like Washington

[FVBrewerFan]

Beauty parlor

Billfold

Slacks

[TURBO]

Beauty parlor

Billfold

Slacks

 

I say billfold.

[DuWayne Steurer]

Back in college (I went to Madison) my roommates went on a road trip to Chicago and asked someone where the Tyme machine was. The guy thought it was a prank and got really mad.

 

 

I remember when Tyme's used to be all over.

 

Also, I live in Janesville, and work in Madison, and I have never in my life heard anyone call a drinking fountain a bubbler, except my aunt Hazel.

Hey, I had a great aunt Hazel when I was growing up in Janesville. Hmmm.

We didn't interact with her much, though, and I don't know her take on the public drinking fountain object.

 

My aunt Hazel (and uncle Wayne) moved to Phoenix, and she was definitely the type of person that would have called it a bubbler.