According to The Writer’s Almanac:
On this day in 1887, teacher Annie Sullivan taught her blind and deaf student Helen Keller that the spelled-out letters “W-A-T-E-R” meant the liquid that flowed out of the pump.
NewMexiKen supposes that these days “W-A-T-E-R” would mean that liquid flows out of a plastic bottle. Not long ago I saw The Miracle Worker with Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke. Catch it if you get a chance. Great story, incredible Oscar-winning performances by both Bancroft and Duke.