11 Things Wisconsinites Say That Confuse Everyone From Out of State

Ask a Wisconsinite where the drinking fountain is, and their answer may be a bubbler.

Many lifelong Wisconsinites don’t think twice about it.

But visitors certainly do.

These are the things Wisconsinites say that confuse many out-of-staters.

1. Eye Stitcher

“Eye stitcher” is a name for a dragonfly.

The Dictionary of American Regional English (DARE), a dialect dictionary built at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (UW-Madison), lists only Wisconsin for it.

If you say it by a lake, many out-of-staters will wonder whose eye needs stitching.

That’s a fair question.

You’ll owe them an explanation.

2. Come Here Once

A request can end in “once,” as in “come here once.”

If you’re waiting for the rest of the sentence, you’ve already heard it.

Milwaukee Magazine’s dialect glossary cites a 1981 report from DARE that found the habit spreading from Milwaukee to the rest of the state.

That “once” traces back to the German mal, or einmal.

UW-Madison linguist Joe Salmons calls it more characteristic of eastern Wisconsin than the rest of the state, though you’ll find it statewide.

3. Bubbler

A “bubbler” is a drinking fountain, and you’ll hear the word chiefly in eastern Wisconsin.

One of the earliest uses of the word for a drinking fountain shows up in 1914 material from Kohler Co. in Sheboygan County.

DARE’s former chief editor says the word’s reach mirrors the marketing area Kohler had around 1918.

4. TYME Machine

If someone sends you to a “TYME machine,” you’re looking for an ATM.

TYME stood for “Take Your Money Everywhere,” and it used to be synonymous with the word ATM in Wisconsin.

Four banks formed TYME Corp. in 1975 and based it in Brown Deer.

UW-Madison linguist Tom Purnell says the generic ATM is overtaking local names like TYME.

5. Melk

Have you heard “melk”?

It’s how some speakers say milk.

The pronunciation turns up elsewhere in the Midwest, but it appears to be most common in eastern Wisconsin.

Salmons compares it to saying “pellow” for pillow.

An L at the end of a syllable changes how you hear the vowel before it.

6. By Instead of To

In Milwaukee speech, “by” can stand in for “at” or “to,” so you may hear “I’m going by Grant Park.”

The habit is based on the German preposition bei, meaning at or next to.

Hear it as “at” or “next to,” and the sentence makes sense.

7. Er No

Wisconsin speakers can add “er no?”, a tag question, to the end of a sentence.

It does the same job as “isn’t it?” does elsewhere.

Salmons says it appears to be an English version of a common German tag question.

That German question translates to the English words “or not.”

Milwaukee has a cousin of it called “aina,” a contraction of English ain’t and German ne, itself a shortened form of nicht, meaning not.

8. Yah Hey

“Yah hey” does three jobs at once, working as a yes, a hello or a way to get your attention.

It isn’t limited to Wisconsin, since you’ll hear it in Minnesota and Michigan too.

The tone tells you which one.

9. Bayg for Bag

“Bayg” is bag said with the vowel from vague.

Try saying it aloud.

That sound belongs to the Inland North accent, which speakers in about the southeastern third of Wisconsin use.

Speakers around the other Great Lakes use it too, so you may recognize it if you grew up near one.

10. Biffy

“Biffy” means outhouse.

DARE labels it chiefly Upper Midwest and Wisconsin, so you may hear it beyond Wisconsin too.

If someone asks you where the biffy is, they’re asking about an outhouse.

11. Come With

“Come with” ends on the word “with,” as in “Can I come with?”

The extra with is a relic of a common construction in Germanic languages.

To the person asking, nothing is missing after “with.”

Racine Two Ways

Racine has nearly always had more than one pronunciation, according to Purnell.

One leans toward the French and stresses the second syllable, so it sounds like “ruh-SEEN.”

The other puts the stress on the first syllable and sounds more at home in English.

Both have been around a long time.

Soda or Pop

The split between “soda” and “pop” runs right through Wisconsin.

People in eastern Wisconsin tend to say soda.

In western Wisconsin, as in much of the Midwest and West, it’s usually pop.

Neither is wrong.

If you drive west across the state, your word for it may change.

Cutting in Line

Marquette University linguist Steve Hartman Keiser says the word for cutting in line depends on where you are in Wisconsin.

In Milwaukee, the term is “skipping.”

Out toward Madison, it changes to “butting” or “budging.”

Up toward the Twin Cities, you’ll hear budging.

In Columbus, Ohio, the term is “ditching,” or sometimes “dishing.”

Squad Car

“Squad car” means police car.

The term has scattered use around the country, but Milwaukee Magazine’s glossary says it’s used most widely in Illinois and Wisconsin.

If you hear a squad car is outside, you’ll want to know why.

Fall Downstairs

To “fall downstairs” is to get a haircut.

The phrase is based on the German expression die Treppe herunterfallen.

It apparently refers to the rough look of some home haircuts.

Schnickelfritz

“Schnickelfritz” comes from German, where it means a mischievous little boy.

Hairs and Scissor

Salmons traces two more Milwaukee habits to German, "hairs" and "scissor."

The plural in "washing your hairs" comes from German.