When I first moved from New Jersey to California I was 12. I ask where the woter fountain was. They the Californians had no idea what I was saying..
Everyone here in North Georgia tends to say water fountain now, but as I was growing up the older generations would say 'drinking fountain'
Bubbler is a New England thing. When I was in the army, a guy said something about the bubbler. I didn't know what the heck he was talking about.
+ 2 I had a similar situation with a guy I worked for from Alabama. He told to pick him up a "hose pipe" on my way to work. I had always called it a water hose or garden hose. I think that is an Alabama thing.
Same here in Texas. It was called a 'drinking fountain' but somewhere in the late 1960s early 1970s 'water fountain' started becoming the norm.
Growing up in NorCal (late 60s-early 70s), all through grade school, the nuns had our classes line up each morning by the 'drinking fountains' for role call. I still refer to them (the water fountains, not the nuns) as 'drinking fountains' most times, unless I wish to impress the local hipsters.
That's a bubbler. It goes nonstop and is a waste of water. I've always understood that water/drinking fountain is one that you manually operate and shoots the water in an arc. As opposed to bubblers, where the water just bubbles up.