Water Fountain

What do you call the thing that's at parks that you can drink out of. I call it a ''water fountain'' but does anyone call it a bubbler. That term bubbler does sound kind of crazy to me. In my area it's often called a ''water fountain''.

Water fountain for me.

How about "drinking fountain"?

Yeah, I've heard that too.

I used to call it a "bubbler", I guess I still would only I haven't mentioned one for years. To call it a "water fountain" would not be enough to distinguish it from any other kind of fountain for me. Those big ones you don't drink from have water in them too. The term "water fountain" just sounds like a redundancy for "fountain".

To, me, When I talk about a ''water fountain'' people usually would know that I'm talking about a fountain you drink out of. And when ever I hear someone talk about a water fountain I think of the fountains you drink out of. I never think of fountains in people's frontyards once they've said ''water fountain''.

''I used to call it a "bubbler", I guess I still would only I haven't mentioned one for years.'' So, does that mean you have been to a park or rest area in years. Parks and rest areas often have water fountains or things that people drink out of at them.

''The term "water fountain" just sounds like a redundancy for "fountain".'' Well, maybe in Australia but not in America. In America fountains that you drink out of are often called ''water fountains''. ''Water fountain'' is the most common term for the thing you can drink out of in America according to a dialect survey. ''Bubbler'' isn't very common in America. It might be more common in Australia.

This was the dialect survey for ''water fountains''.

http://hcs.harvard.edu/~golder/dialect/staticmaps/q_103.html

Bill,

No. You don't have to mention every around you nor do you have to mention everything you use. I can't remember the last time I've had cause to refer to a bubbler.

Steve,

"Well, maybe in Australia but not in America." I don't doubt it. Perhaps I should have emphasised the fact that this is a subjective judgement but I suppose I'd thought it understood because of the "for me" in the sentence "To call it a 'water fountain' ... for me."

What about ''fire hydrant''. a once heard someone say that it was redundant to call a fire hydrant a ''fire hydrant'', but, I disagree with that. Fire hydrants are not the only kind of hydrants.

My teacher from South Africa always calls it "bubbly".

We call chewing gum "bubbly."