What Is a “Water Fountain”

This map is from a collection of over a hundred dialect surveys compiled by Joshua Katz, a PhD student in statistics at NC State University. My mom’s family is from Rhode Island, and I thought I knew all of the Ocean State’s pronunciation idiosyncrasies by now: I own a T-shirt that says “Speaking ‘Rhode Island’ Like a Native: Lesson #1,” for example, with a cartoon of a woman holding a blender. An arrow pointing to the blender says “BLENDAH”; an arrow pointing to the woman says “BRENDER.” Makes perfect sense. But “bubbler!” “Bubbler” I’ve never heard before.

More here.