My wife is from Wisconsin and one of our favorite pasttimes during family gatherings is exploring the language variations that are present between southeast Michigan English and northern Wisconsin English.

And, of course, my father - who can’t say “th” or “r” because his first language was Flemish - often gets in on the act.  It makes for some surreal conversations.

Anyway, on a hot day like today, my wife won’t ask to stop at the drinking fountain.  She’ll want to go to the “bubbler.”  The middle school students in her classes have caught wind of this and now ask to go to the “bubbler” during classtime.  They get a real kick out of it.

Another cool variation involves ATM machines.  One company, Tyme, runs pretty much all of the ATMs in NE Wisconsin.  So, when I first started dating my wife, she would ask to stop at a “Tyme Machine.”  The first time I heard it, I tried to ignore it because she seemed like a pretty good date and I didn’t want to think that she was crazy.  But after a while, I finally asked her about it and we had a good laugh.

So, if a friendly person with Wisconsin plates ever asks you for directions to the nearest time machine, you can tell them that it’s down the street right next to the bubbler.

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