Not-too-long ago, when I was buying my first bong, I went into a headshop with my friend, and she was telling me that while you're in there, you're supposed to say "water pipe" instead of "bong" when referring to them, or else they get pissed. While I was there, though, I wondered what bubblers were formally called. I forgot to ask the lady, though, and never found out. Any one know what they're called?
Wondered the exact same thing while I was downtown at The Jungle Room the other day... they had signs referring to the "water-pipe" rule, but they also had a big sign above the bubblers that said "bubblers"... so I'm guessing they're called just that, as it's an inconspicuous enough title that doesn't exclusively refer to marijuana-smoking paraphernalia like "bong" does.
ive never had any problems by saying bubblers, but sometimes theyd get pissy about calling bongs, bongs.