{She Said} Fountain?

As we were driving the other day I saw a church with a little pond in front. Said pond had a fountain in the middle of it and I had the thought, “we sure do have a lot of fountains in these parts!” Did you know (probably not) I actually have two fountains in a pond behind my house and there are at least two more fountains in my subdivision alone. We pass two more on my 7 minute drive to work. This, of course, led me to, “do we have the MOST fountains in the WORLD?!?”


Now I will holla at my Kansas City (Missouri) peeps- it is because of them and all the time I have chosen to spend with them that I know that Kansas City boasts being the Fountain Capital of the WORLD (oh yes, above Seville and Rome as well). Now they don’t seem to be willing to directly come out and say that they have the most fountains but they certainly imply it. I do wonder if they conduct a fountain census every year and if they fall behind, they add a couple more to their illustrious city. But I digress.

This led me to think about, “how does one define a fountain?” Is it anywhere that water is sprayed into the air? Or does there have to be a raised pool from which water is ejected from a central structure within said raised pool?

Dictionary.com says…

foun•tain
ˈfaʊn tn Spelled [foun-tn]
noun

1. a spring or source of water; the source or head of a stream.
2. the source or origin of anything.
3. a jet or stream of water (or other liquid) made by mechanical means to spout or rise from an opening or structure, as to afford water for use, to cool the air, or to serve for ornament.
4. a structure for discharging such a jet or a number of jets, often an elaborate or artistic work with basins, sculptures, etc.
5. drinking fountain.

While that is very thorough, not entirely helpful in my purpose here. So, if the ponds with the jets of water spraying from the surface level of the water are not, indeed, called fountains, what would they be called.

Here is what I decided.

Blowholes.

Like on a whale.

Pass it around so that it can catch on.