Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
The new kid on the block, economically speaking, is tourism, which really got its start
after World War II. The state now rakes in more than $12 billion annually.
Agriculture is the linchpin: 41 percent of the state remains devoted to agricultural
products.Theindustryisworthmorethan$80billion,with25percentofthatfromdairying.
Wisconsin ranks first to third in the United States for dairy and a lengthy list of veget-
ables. Interestingly, it's the fastest-growing state in organic farming (a 91 percent increase
1997-2010), as well as first in organic dairy farms and second in organic farms (that's total,
not per capita).
WISCONSIN LINGUISTIC PRIMER
The source of the majority of Wisconsin's names is illiterate (and occasionally innu-
merate)trappersandtradersstrugglingtofilternon-Indo-Europeanwordsandspeech
throughRomanceandGermaniclanguagesensibilities.Toponymygenerallyfallsin-
to several categories-bastardized Native American lexical items (the peskiest to suss
out), practical monikers pertaining to local landforms or natural wonders, and me-
morials to European American “founding” fathers.
Even “Wisconsin” is etymologically slippery; a historical linguist has called Wis-
consin'snamethemostcrypticofall27stateswithNativeAmericannames.Asearly
as1673,FatherMarquettenamedtheriver,fromwhichsomesaythestate'snamede-
rived,Meskousing(“redstones”),perhapsbecauseofaredtingeofthebanks.“Ouis-
consin” appeared on a Jesuit map in 1688. But most widely accepted is the Ojibwa
word for the state, “Wees-kon-san” (“gathering place of waters”).
WISCONSINISMS
Perhaps because of Wisconsin's delightful polyglot weirdness, the brilliant, white-
whale project
Dictionary of American Regional English
was started and is still slog-
ging along in Madison out of cramped quarters at the University of Wisconsin.
Perhaps the most famous example of a Wisconsinism is “bubbler,” for drinking
fountain.TheDictionaryofAmericanRegionalEnglishsaysthattheothertrulyWis-
consin word is “golden birthday,” the birthday year that matches the date of the
month (for example, if you were born on January 13, your 13th birthday is your
golden birthday). Those in common Midwestern (or national) usage but that started
