Dummy = Duddy?

May 25, 2009 11:54 PM

For some reason, I have always thought that one common name for a "pacifier" or "dummy" was "duddy" (I am not a native English speaker). Is this word used anywhere? Is the spelling correct? I can't find really any reference to it on the web.
posted by rom1 to education (24 comments total)

Widely read literature enthusiast here; I have never ever ever heard or read that word ever in my life, ever, except right here right now.
posted by Aquaman at 11:58 PM on May 25 [1 favorite]

Never heard of it. It's always been "dummy", AFAIK.
posted by pompomtom at 12:05 AM on May 26

I haven't heard it, but dummy is something that children often have their own words for (my two year-old niece calls it "didi"), so you may have heard a child call it duddy.
posted by paduasoy at 12:10 AM on May 26

I am a native Australian English speaker, and I have not heard anybody but you refer to a dummy as a duddy. The only usage I know of for "duddy" is as part of "fuddy-duddy" which is probably about as far from babies and their accessories as a word can be!
posted by flabdablet at 12:15 AM on May 26

"Dodie" appears to be a dialect variant (there are numerous nonstandard terms including binky, soother, and others). From reports, it is found in the North of England and in Ireland.
posted by dhartung at 12:43 AM on May 26

I have never heard this usage.
posted by ob at 1:05 AM on May 26

There you go. I have spend a few years in Ireland so I must have learnt it there!
posted by rom1 at 1:06 AM on May 26

As an American, I've never even heard it called "dummy" Just pacifier.
posted by delmoi at 1:26 AM on May 26 [1 favorite]

When I was in southern Indiana in the late 90s, many kids in the rave community also called them "binky." No idea where that came from, but "Goddamit I'm grinding so bad, where's my !@#$ing binky?" was a commonly-heard phrase.
posted by LMGM at 3:05 AM on May 26 [1 favorite]

The OED does not cite any meaning for "duddy" beyond "ragged" (ie: related to clothing). And even then, it's pretty obscure.
posted by RavinDave at 3:17 AM on May 26

Never heard "duddy". I have heard it called a "doodle" or a soother.
posted by orange swan at 3:22 AM on May 26

Binky, which I'm fairly sure was a trade name. My mother in law calls it a "passy" (paci?).
posted by Emperor SnooKloze at 4:37 AM on May 26

I live in Ireland, and do sometimes hear caregivers talking of a child's dodie / duddie. One gets the impression it's the slangy, informal term, and that in formal speech it would be a dummy (e.g. if asking to buy one in a shop).
posted by Tapioca at 5:18 AM on May 26

Oh, and hey: look at this nauseatingly sweet story about a child's dodie.
posted by Tapioca at 5:21 AM on May 26

My mother is from Belfast and we always called it a "do-do" (doh-doh) but around other adults it was called a "soother".
posted by bonobothegreat at 8:11 AM on May 26

..meaning do-do in the extended Irish family but soother when discussing it with Canadians.
posted by bonobothegreat at 8:14 AM on May 26

Binky® pacifiers are a registered trademark of Playtex.
posted by dhartung at 8:53 AM on May 26

Wow, I've never heard of most of these! If someone had told their kid to get their "dummy" I'd never know what they meant. "Binky" is a brand, as has been mentioned. There are so many names. My family calls it a "paci" (I don't remember what they called it when I had one... or really if I even had one, but this is what my cousins call theirs). I call them "plugs" and so will my children.
posted by purpletangerine at 9:10 AM on May 26

we've always had Zuzus. (zoo-zoo)
posted by kidsleepy at 11:23 AM on May 26

My kid began calling his pacifier his "Muh" (very short clipped syllable) which changed to "Mut" (or in moments of affection "Mutty"). Any idea? This started as soon as he was verbal and is lasting now that he's 2.
posted by Overzealous at 11:36 AM on May 26

Native English speaker from Ireland here - 'dodie' is certainly in common usage, but I've always assumed it's slang and wouldn't be sure on the spelling. I associate it with less-educated usage, though I can't be sure why.
posted by StephenF at 1:07 PM on May 26

My brothers and I called them yayas, as did my two kids. No clue why.
posted by meggie78 at 6:33 PM on May 26

@StephenF yeah, we were never allowed to use the word dodie, but the neighbour kids and their parents used it. I am convinced this was some kind of snobbery of my mother's, as was her refusal to allow "Mammy", "Mam" or, God forbid, "Ma". In those days Protestant children did not say those words. Nor did we eat margarine (we had butter) or Jacobs biscuits. And referring to Junior/Senior Infants classes as "Low/High Babies" was absolutely out of the question. There are probably many other trivial distinctions like this that I have forgotten about.
My sister in law, who is Catholic, maintains that when you buy homemade cakes from a school or church sale, you can tell they are "Proddy buns" because "Protestants use real chocolate. We use cooking chocolate."
posted by redsky at 7:16 AM on June 3

Edit: Sorry about the @. I plead ignorance. Have mercy on the n00b!
posted by redsky at 9:44 AM on June 3