One of the best-known regionalisms in Wisconsin is "bubbler," meaning drinking fountain. It comes from the commercial name of a fountain the Wisconsin-based Kohler Co. used to make decades ago.

One that puzzled me for a long time is "gangway," which describes the walkway between houses in some cities in the Midwest. When I was a kid it always conjured images of gangs lurking in the shadows. It's an old English term that refers to temporary walkways like the gangplank on a ship, according to Mirriam-Webster, but how was that adapted to a sidewalk along a house that connects the backyard with the street?

I was in Germany recently and think I found an answer. At every exit ramp on the autobahn, there's a sign with the word "ausgang." "Gang" is "course" in German. So in areas with high concentrations of German immigrants, the term may have come naturally.

Speaking of German, it's a fact that many parts of the country were bilingual (English-German) well into the 20th century. Pennsylvania, for instance, printed its official documents in German until 1950.