A Way With Words

Do you drink from a bubbler?  If you have the vaguest idea what I'm talking about, then you're likely from Wisconsin.  I read recently that the gargantuan project of assembling words that are unique to particular regions or states has been published by Harvard University Press in the five-volume Dictionary of American Regional English. The dictionary features words and phrases that are regionally understood, but perhaps inexplicable elsewhere.  As a child, I recall my first encounter with the quirkiness of regional language when I asked for the whereabouts of a "bubbler" to someone from outside of Wisconsin. The person didn't have any idea what I was talking about until I further explained that I was looking to get a drink of water and the person responded, "Oh, you mean a water fountain."  While we like to think that if we speak English, there's homogeneity in the experience, the truth is that there is variety based on where we live.  I am grateful to those who have assembled this voluminous dictionary to document our colorful and regionally significant words and phrases, and to validate that when I want a drink of water, I head to a bubbler!