Talk:Pacifier/Archive 1

Source

The American designer and first manufacturer of the rubber baby pacifier was Daniel Rothchild Bernstein of New York.

This fact can not be proven via Google. Any ideas of its source? -- Zanimum 22:48, 3 April 2006 (UTC)

Although I found a patent for his design (Daniel Bernstein - "ornamental design for a pacifier" in 1977, as Patent number D255,268) there was nothing to suggest that his design stood out from dozens of others, also patented. There's a family webpage online saying he invented the Binki, but the name Binki with an I was not trademarked and Binky with a Y was in use decades before Bernstein patented his design. --HJMG 10:00, 15 May 2006 (UTC)

Daniel Rothchild Bernstein did invent the Binky, yes, according to his still living 72-year-old step-daughter (turned 72 in 2022). But not in 1977! He was my step-grandfather, and both made and lost his money through Binky long before I was born in 1977. So, that 1977 patent must have been very slow in coming, like in the slushpile for decades! That was not when he actually began producing them. By then, he'd long ago lost the business.

The way his step-daughter Lorraine tells it, he started with one factory, married her mother who was a book keeper and had a head for business, and together they built a fortune; lots of factories, many products. He designed the first Mazola margarine plastic tub, for instance. His name was Daniel, and her name was Dolores, formerly Dolores Castro, so their factories had the sign "D & D" on them; but today, that title belongs to an interior design company. Lorraine used to work in one of his factories on the plastic blister case machine. Anyway, Daniel used to test new dies for the Binky by throwing the pacifiers on the roof of his wife's house in Puerto Rico, because if they survived the sun there, and didn't fade, he knew they were good. When his wife was dying of cancer, she predicted that he'd lose the business within a year. Lorraine says it took him two years.

I have heard that getting a patent takes a long time. It's possible, I guess, that the 1977 one was a late approval for a very old patent request. Who knows? 2601:680:C900:AF40:F57E:933B:E344:698D (talk) 00:33, 23 January 2023 (UTC)

Weasel words

Came in looking for info, but the section on problems caused, is loaded with vagaries, i.e. may also be, maybe and to top it all 'some people believe' can I delete this one, unless someone comes up with supporting evidence? Khukri ^{(talk . contribs)} 21:18, 20 June 2006 (UTC)

I agree, this whole "Problems" section should likely be removed. It is way too vague and is basically hearsay and old wives tales. Odcdtd45 03:08, 21 June 2007 (UTC)

doodoo??

ok, i live in northern ireland and over here the terms doodoo (pronounces like the bird name) and dodie (pronounces like do- a female dear and dy - like the end of a flea, dodie). do i need to source this? —The preceding unsigned comment was added by 172.188.42.103 (talk) 23:43, 2 February 2007 (UTC).

I'm also from Ireland (the republic) and both these terms are commonplace in the south too, with dodie probably being the more frequently used --83.70.237.178 (talk) 15:11, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

Dodie is also commonly used in Greater Manchester, although I haven't been able to find a significant source to add this to wikipedia/wiktionary. Wilymancunian (talk) 08:19, 2 June 2010 (UTC)

Dodie used in North-East England aswell, no source however. 2.217.118.44 (talk) 13:45, 20 October 2012 (UTC)

Colloquial (Slang) terms for pacifiers

I came in here wondering why I call a pacifier a "binky" to no avail. I think there are enough slang terms for pacifiers to warrant a section. I know of binky and passey and I've heard several others. Being that encyclopedias aren't typically for slang I wanted to see what the watchers of the page think before I started adding anything of this nature. JohnCub 17:16, 23 February 2007 (UTC)

Should these be here at all? Is slang encyclopedic? If anything, these should be in wiktionary. As well, since they are slang, anyone can add anything they wish and there are, by deffinition, no reliable sources to cite. --Paul Anderson (talk) 06:17, 10 July 2008 (UTC)

Slang is a far cry from common usage. I've for the life of me never heard anyone heard a binky call a "pacifier". Now what's poor granny going to do if she'd like more information? I think an aka section would enrich the article. Particularly if you'd include regions of use. One can take this verification thing too far. BTW. We do list "binky" as "a brand name of pacifier". If that's the origin it's long since become as generic as "hand me a Kleenex", "put a Band Aid on it" and "google it" in US usage. For some people information on locally used expressions may also provide valuable info on where an individual's ancestors were from. If you look at other articles they have no problems with listing alternative terms. 99.11.160.111 (talk) 18:27, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

The term 'Binky' became used because it was in big letters on the package, and when hospitals gave them out to new mothers, they began using the term Binky since many people do not know the word pacifier. Binky-Griptight, Inc. was a British-owned company which sold wholesale baby items, not just pacifiers. In the mid 90's, their market share began to grow, and in January 1998, the company was bought by Playtex according to http://esignal.brand.edgar-online.com/DisplayFilingRTFandXSL.aspx?Type=RTF&filingid=444871 Personally, I think having any information about the term binky at all is only promotion for that brand. I have heard the term 'nuk' used in place of pacifier before, as well. I do not think that the term binky is ubiquitous enough to warrant having it's own sentence or two in the pacifier page, as a search for the term binky on the site already provides the information that it is a brand name for the pacifier product. 128.135.74.245 (talk) 21:03, 19 January 2011 (UTC)

Russian pacifiers

There's a mention of cloth pacifiers filled with food used in parts of Europe in the past, but i think the Russian soska deserves a special mention. Used widely until the start of the last century it probably contributed significantly to the high infant mortality at the time --83.70.237.178 (talk) 15:11, 2 January 2008 (UTC)

Nice article

Please delete this comment if it's inappropriate. I just want to congratulate all you previous contributors to this article. I think this small but delectable little history of the humble pacifier represents so many things that are right about Wikipedia. I particularly like the interesting history, well balanced exposition of pros and cons, and excellent set of references, including to one 1909 New York Times. Keep up the good work my fellow Wikipedians. This father of a newborn son who doesn't know anything about pacifiers in Los Angeles appreciates your work!208.54.15.93 (talk) 19:18, 1 April 2008 (UTC)

Adults

Could someone please verify the sections about adult pacifiers or should these be removed? To me this sounds highly unlikely ("Many adults...") and more like some kind of fetish justification.

Kuebel (talk) 09:38, 23 July 2008 (UTC)

It does appear to be a fetish, so I rewrote it as such. NUK5s are in fact named after the NUK pacifiers made by MAPA Gmbh. NUK baby pacifiers come in sizes 1 to 3. The NUK5 is actually a separate product, the adult-size NUK Medic Pro. I couldn't find any information about how it or any other adult pacifier is used in either English or German, but it has been exhibited at conferences for speech and voice therapy professionals in Germany. The German Wikipedia has an article about the NUK brand. I also deleted the section about other uses by adults (autism etc.), because I couldn't find any evidence at all for this on the web. And I deleted to the link to the NUK5 vendor (anyone who wants one should be able to find one by Googling on NUK5).

As to whether this section belongs here at all, I don't know. I had never heard of the Adult Baby community until today. If someone who knows more about it wants to write a separate article , please do, by all means. But this article is about baby pacifiers, so the details don't really belong here. -- Margin1522 (talk) 12:58, 2 August 2008 (UTC)

Removing Slang

There is a history of slang being introduced into this article and then being removed. Every parent has an entertaining word for a pacifier, and I have never seen a source added to any of these bits of slang.

I might as well say it is called a Baby Muffler in Canada.

SarniaArt (talk) 01:48, 12 August 2009 (UTC)

Did you and others really remove "slang"? Or was the information removed merely "regional usage" or "colloquial"? Standing like a pitbull in front of the house so no one can enter will reduce the number of visitors. This isn't an article for the pacifier manufacturing association. Having a section on sourced colloquial expressions will enrich the article because it will make it accessible to a broader audience. So if countless Canadian authors have their parents stuff "baby mufflers" into their baby's mouths and anxious parents ask in forums what variety of "baby muffler" to use, by all means, put it in. A "holier than thou" attitude doesn't make for a better encyclopedia but rather one that provides less information to fewer people. 99.11.160.111 (talk) 18:56, 22 December 2009 (UTC)

Dummy

In New Zealand, and most other English speaking Commonwealth countries too I think, a "Pacifier" is called a Dummy. Surely this should be mentioned somewhere in this article? —Preceding unsigned comment added by Kiwibeca (talk • contribs) 22:04, 18 August 2009 (UTC) I agree with you. England (Britain) & Australia use Dummy. I only found out what a Pacifier (in this context) was only last year. Prior to this, I've always thought it was a gun as an American film had a gun called a Pacifier & given the gun mentality of Americans, I thought American babies sucked on gun barrels. Also, remember, this is an American site with American editors who most probably have never travelled outside America (I refer to a comment John McEnroe made on British TV a few years ago about only 50% of Americans who own a passport actually use it). Notice how the English (Britain, Australian, etc) term is noted but once but the American language is then used the rest of the tim even though the first line indicates it was invented hundreds of years before America was even founded.Molbrum (talk) 15:38, 24 January 2011 (UTC)

Dental Problems

As prestigious as the Mayo clinic is, I don't think a reference to a page that is essentially an online brochure qualifies as a quality citation. This type of claim should be easy to verify with *real* peer reviewed data, if it is true. I'm adding a citation needed tag back. 110.33.174.187 (talk) 06:28, 29 May 2011 (UTC)

Dummies/pacifiers in the disco/rave community?

I was wondering: what about the use of pacifiers/dummies among teen-agers and adults participating in raves? Just regular old baby dummies, but they're usually sold at about a pound each at raves and parties and such. I know why too: dexedrin and methedrin and benzedrin (medical pills, but quite common with ravers) make you grind your teeth (I think MDMA does, too), so they use dummies so as not to damage their teeth. --173.206.160.183 (talk) 18:49, 3 October 2011 (UTC)

No, it originated as an accessory of sorts when "candy ravers" were big in the rave scene about 12 years ago. Frankly, I didn't even realize raves were still in existence nowadays, but I know that back then, pacifiers were just another thing to add to an outfit including teddy bears, brightly-colored plastic children's jewelery, clothing/backpacks/hats/etc. featuring children's cartoon characters, etc. The idea was to attempt to appear as childlike as possible (actually, it was disturbing to see grown men and women sucking on pacifiers, but whatever). It did not prevent teeth-grinding, because unless you have a very malformed jaw/bite, you're not going to grind your front teeth anyway. 184.38.17.165 (talk) 05:51, 28 October 2011 (UTC)

Actually the OP is correct, they stop people from biting their mouth and grinding their teeth, a side effect of some substances. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 82.44.203.109 (talk) 14:10, 11 April 2019 (UTC)

Problems with malocclusions and use of pacifiers

I have edited this page to add some information on when pacifiers or other non-nutritive sucking habits might cause problems with children's bite, evidence for how to prevent that and stop the habits and a reference to the Cochrane review on that subject. Npt1 (talk) 21:54, 4 January 2016 (UTC)

Too much information in the opening sentence

The opening sentence currently runs:

A pacifier, binky (American English) or dummy (British English and Australian English), also known as a soother (Canadian English), or Dodie is a rubber, plastic or silicone nipple given to an infant to suckle upon.

The subject of the sentence is separated from its verb by no less than nineteen words. Since pacifier is the standard name of the thing, the slang terms are irrelevant; it would be like beginning the article on automobile so:

An automobile, auto, car (American, British, Australian, and Canadian English), or ride (American English), also known as wheels (American English), is a usually four-wheeled motor vehicle designed ordinarily to seat at least four persons and produced for the personal use of individuals independent of any profession or purpose other than transport.

The information about the informal terms should be placed elsewhere.Wordwright (talk) 21:43, 15 September 2020 (UTC)

A Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion

The following Wikimedia Commons file used on this page or its Wikidata item has been nominated for deletion:

• Ravers - candy girls (1309772495).jpg

Participate in the deletion discussion at the nomination page. —Community Tech bot (talk) 19:55, 17 October 2020 (UTC)

pacifier

pacifier 49.15.136.31 (talk) 08:50, 29 January 2023 (UTC)