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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.
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 of dude exist; the term is used to denote a particularly 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.
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 - Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome refers to dudes: "It is the town of showy hotels, patronized chiefly by dudes and ballet girls."
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."
1898 - Some Dudes Can Fight, an early silent film in which a Bowery young man starts a fight with another gentleman, is released.
1932 - Damon Runyon's book Guys and Dolls features a character named "Dave the Dude."
1933 - The Dude Bandit, a western in which Tod "Ace" Carter, played by Hoot Gibson, defeats the evil money-lender Hooper Atchley, played by Al Burton, is released.
1959 - Rio Bravo, a western in which a sheriff (John Wayne) and deputies, including a drunk named "Dude" (Dean Martin), defeat the bad guys, is released.
1978 - Big Wednesday, a film drama depicting the surfer life in the 1960s and '70s, is released.
1980s - "Dude" enters the mainstream via multiple surfer-dude spoofs in film. It spreads rapidly with skateboard culture, which is a direct descendant of surf culture, but which is not restricted by geography. Sometime mid-decade, "dude" crosses the gender barrier. "Dude" also appears frequently in the popular animated television seriesTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
1982 - Fast Times at Ridgemont High, a teen comedy/drama featuring Sean Penn as Jeff Spicoli, the quintessential surfer dude, is released to wild success. This film is largely responsible for the first wave of the mainstreaming of "dude."
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 - On February 17, 1989 Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure, introduces Keanu Reeves and Alex Winter as Ted "Theodore" Logan and Bill S. Preston, Esq., respectively, two righteous band dudes, bringing "dude" to an even wider audience. Ted uses the word "dude" 10 times in the movie's first 15 minutes. The next day, February 18, 1989, the first segment of the "Wayne's World" sketch airs on Saturday Night Live, featuring Mike Myers as Wayne Campbell and Dana Carvey as Garth Algar, who use "dude" frequently.
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.
1990 - Back to the Future Part III Biff's character, one of the ancestors of the Biff from the first movie, calls McFly "dude" and it seems to be derogatory.
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."
1994 - In the television showFriends, the male characters, Ross, Joey, and Chandler, frequently refer to each other as "dude," as a term of endearment and to express shock or surprise.
1997 - In the television show Teen Angel (1997 TV series), one of the characters, Jordan, says "dude" frequently, using it in every episode appearance.
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.
2001-2003 - The phrase "Dude, you're getting a Dell!" enters mainstream culture in the U.S. thanks to a highly successful ad run by PC maker Dell Inc., which features a character named Steven, popularly referred to as "the Dell Dude."
2004 - Hugo "Hurley" Reyes' catchphrase on the TV show Lost is "dude." During the first three seasons, he says "dude" nearly 200 times.
2008 - The brothers Sam and Dean Winchester in Supernatural frequently refer to each other and various other characters as "dudes."
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.
