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Evander Berry Wall, a New York socialite, was dubbed "King of the Dudes." He is pictured (1888) in the New York American at the time of the "battle of the Dudes".
The term dude is an American Englishslang word generally used informally to address a male individual. The word was once used primarily by adults but has become a common slang term used in various age groups. The female equivalent, which is used less often, is "dudette." However, the term "dude" has evolved to become a more unisex term to encompass both genders, and was true even in the 1950s, when the word was used in its more traditional sense. It can alternatively be spelled "dood."
Usage
Historically, the word usually has been used as a noun describing a type of man, or as an interjection. The tone and inflection of the word "dude" are used to convey the various meanings. For example, someone may be a "surfer dude." "Dude" is considered to be slang, similar to the phrase "man."
"Dude" is also used alone in a sentence as an interjection denoting a feeling of surprise, happiness, disappointment, amazement or other emotions. As an interjection, a short, clipped "dude!" might be used to convey annoyance with someone, while a long, drawn-out "duuuude" conveys amazement. The word might also be used almost anywhere in a sentence in order to convey such sentiments in conversation, as in, "Listen, dude, we have to go."
Other, older definitions include those of a well-dressed male, or one who is unfamiliar with life outside a large city. These definitions may go hand-in-hand, hence the phrased definition "an Easterner in the West" (United States).
History
The term "dude" was first used in speech in 1873. It was first used in print in 1876, in Putnam's Magazine.
One of the earliest books to use the word was The Home and Farm Manual, written by Jonathan Periam in 1883. In that work, Periam used the term "dude" several times to denote an ill-bred and ignorant, but ostentatious, man from the city.
"Dude ranches," to which wealthy Easterners came to experience the "cowboy life," began to appear in the American West in the early 20th century.
It became prominent in surfer culture in the early '60s, but it wasn't until the mid-'70s that it started creeping into the mainstream. Some usages in pop culture have contributed to the spread of this word:
Dude in popular culture
1883 - Political cartoon of Chester Alan Arthur pictures the refined, well-dressed President, with the caption, "According to your cloth you've cut your coat, O Dude of all the White House residents; We trust that will help you with the vote, When next we go nominating Presidents."
1889 - A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur's Court by Mark Twain comments on how commoners in Medieval Britain worshiped nobility and title without question, for the sake only of a meaningless title: "...and the best of English commoners was still content to see his inferiors impudently continuing to hold a number of positions, such as lordships and the throne, to which the grotesque laws of his country did not allow him to aspire; in fact, he was even able to persuade himself that he was proud of it. It seems to show that there isn't anything you can't stand, if you are only born and bred to it. Of course that taint, that reverence for rank and title, had been in our American blood, too - I know that; but when I left America it had disappeared - at least to all intents and purposes. The remnant of it was restricted to the dudes and dudesses. When a disease has worked its way down to that level, it may fairly be said to be out of the system."
1985 - Less Than Zero (a novel by Bret Easton Ellis) includes the first published usage of the now-common phrase, "No way, dude!", and the first mainstream display of "dude" having crossed the gender barrier. In a noteworthy scene, a young woman tells her mother, "No way, dude."
1989 - "Hey Dude" premiers on Nickelodeon; it would go on to run for three years. The cast of this teenage sitcom set on a dude ranch included Christine Taylor.
1993 - Adam Sandler's comedy album "They're All Gonna Laugh at You" features the track "Buddy," in which several characters have a conversation composed almost entirely of the words "buddy," "homey," and "dude."
1998 - BASEketball, featuring Trey Parker and Matt Stone as two young men who, at one point in the film, have an argument composed entirely of the word "dude," with their inflections conveying the meaning of each instance of the word.
1998 - The Big Lebowski, a film by Joel and Ethan Coen and featuring Jeff Bridges as "The Dude" ("or His Dudeness, or Duder, or, you know, El Duderino, if you're not into the whole brevity thing"), an aging hippie/beach bum, turns "Dude" into a philosophy. The film's narrator, an old-fashioned cowboy played by Sam Elliott, mentions that he considers the term "dude" in its traditional sense, meaning a pretentious city-slicker type, rather than in its more contemporary sense. File:The.Big.Lebowski.1998.Screenshot.1.jpgJeff Bridges as Jeffrey "The Dude" Lebowski in The Big Lebowski.
2008 - Bud Light airs an advertising campaign in which the dialogue consists entirely of different inflections of "Dude!" and does not mention the product by name.
