Essential English phrases

The narrow neck of land between Lake Mendota and Lake Monona that carries the Capitol, State Street and downtown. It is why Madison cannot sprawl outward from its centre, why rents there are what they are, and why everyone says 'on the isthmus' rather than 'downtown'.

A drinking fountain. Wisconsin says bubbler and almost nowhere else in America does. Using it correctly in your first week is the fastest way to stop sounding like a visitor.

A complete sentence here: 'Do you want to come with?' Wisconsin drops the object, a fossil of the state's German and Norwegian settlement. Nobody notices they are doing it.

Capitol Square, the ring of streets around the State Capitol. Home to the Saturday farmers market, which circles it counter-clockwise and is one of the largest producer-only markets in the country.

Williamson Street, the spine of the near-east side — the co-op, the bars, the murals and the Marquette neighbourhood around it. The most self-consciously Madison part of Madison.

Traffic lights. Another Wisconsin-only construction, and one locals will cheerfully deny using until you point it out.

US 12/18 running along Madison's southern edge — the ring road that everything crosses and everyone is late because of. Traffic reports here are essentially Beltline reports.

Memorial Union Terrace on the shore of Lake Mendota — the sunburst chairs, the beer, the sunsets. It is public, not just for students, and it functions as the city's front garden from April to October.

A Wisconsin institution: an old-fashioned restaurant where you have a brandy old fashioned at the bar first, then a relish tray, then a slab of prime rib on a Saturday. Not a nightclub. Learning to order the old fashioned sweet is the local rite.

Friday night, statewide, non-negotiable: battered cod or perch, potato pancakes, coleslaw and rye bread. Every tavern, supper club and church hall runs one, and it is the single easiest way to meet neighbours.

The municipal and county vehicle registration fee. Madison charges USD 40 a year and Dane County another USD 40, both on top of the state fee — so registering a car here costs meaningfully more than in most of Wisconsin. Madison's share funds Metro Transit.

911 for emergencies. 511 Wisconsin is the road and weather condition line, which from November to March is the number that tells you whether the interstate to Milwaukee or Chicago is passable.