Dwelly doesn’t have grùdach, but it’s still going strong in South Uist and Eriskay.
Catrìona Walker [Eriskay] has a nice contemporary turn on it: “grùdach in a drawer or grùdach in a bag, if you needed something particular and you couldn’t find it… I use it still… we would be grùdach for periwinkles when we were little.”
Domhnall Ruaraidh Caimbeul in South Uist is well acquainted with the word:
“I use it quite often myself. I remember when we’d be cutting the peats, in a peat-cutting team, they were low, you’d need to take your watch off, or it would get wet, and you’d go to put it in your pocket, and next thing it would fall in the peat-bank and you’d need to be grùdach in the peat-bank till you found it. Then if you were a while finding it, the ones behind you would get cross. That’s grùdach, looking for something you’ve lost. The kind of work I have – I’m a plumber – and have to be grùdach quite often in pretty odd things, but somebody has to do it!”