Snudda

Some poor child has lost their snudda, or pacifier, or dummy as the British call it. The word snudda is actually the kiddie version of snuð, and is even more often pronounced dudda by it's toddling advocates. Valentína's grandmother Ólöf, who was raised as a county doctor's child in the north of Iceland, near Akureyri, does not consider snuð and it's variations to be fine enough for her household, and calls them instead poot (phoenetic spelling.) This word was used while she was growing up, and she thinks it must be a Danish word. Dansih, you see, was spoken in most better households in the north of Iceland, at least on Sundays, until three or four decades ago. The Danes who had ruled over Iceland until the early par tof the century had been the merchant and educated class, for the most part, and speaking Danish was a sign of quality. Now Ólöf is far from being a snob, but she is a classy lady, and this simple word, poot(I unfortunately don't know how to spell it in Danish), was a small sign of class.

This is also one in my ongoing collection of photos of forgotten things. More to come...