My Little Dutt
I hadn't thought of my dutt in years but, suddenly, not too long ago, I remembered how my mom would ask me if I wanted her to put a dutt in my hair. I usually agreed, since it was a cool hairdo for a hot Nebraska day. In German, a hair bun is called a dutt , which rhymes with the English word, put . The word, used in Germany and Switzerland, simply refers to a particular hairstyle, commonly called a bun in the US. Mom would twist my ponytail into a little dutt, right on top of my head, and secure it with two or three bobby pins. She usually left some of my hair hanging down, since it was too short to pull it all up into a bun. She told me how her mom had given her a dutt when she was a little girl, and how her grandma, who spoke only German, had often given my grandma the same hairstyle. So the hairdo, as well as its name, had been passed down through several generations. I don't remember that anyone else I knew ever wore a dutt. I never heard the word used anywhere except at h...