1. Dude is slang for:
a. A man excessively concerned with his clothes,
grooming, and manners.
b. A fellow; chap.
c. A general term of address used to a man,
woman, or group).
d. A person reared in a large city.
e. An urban Easterner who vacations on a ranch.
It
is also important to note that Dude can also be used as an exclamation, with a
wide variety of meanings based on the tone, pitch, cadence, and facial
expression used by the speaker.
2.
The Dude attitude is one of a lackadaisical, irresponsible, passive individual
when used in the context of an individual in the 1970s; namely the surfer.
However, when looking at Dude in terms of its older definition, it is derived
from the well dressed, overly meticulous when it comes to apparel, manners, and
grooming, especially for wealthy property owners or city slickers that owned
land in the Mid-West.
3.
Dude is not only a way of identifying a specific person or group, but also
there are characteristics, or characters rather, that have the “Dude”
mentality. These characters are more prevalent in 1980s and 1990s teen comedy
movies, but also appear in more sophisticated cinema. The Dude lifestyle can be
seen as a laid-back lifestyle, with a hint of slacker spice.
4.
Some examples defining, pontificating, and emulating Dude, in no particular
order:
Joel
and Ethan Coen’s The Big Lebowski
Surfing
Cheese
in a can
Skateboarding
Males
with long hair
Males with long hair who consistently touch
their hair with the occasional head-
shake to fix their hair
The State of California
Marijuana
Snowboarding
Boarding school dropouts
Teenage boys
Teenage male athletes after consuming alcohol
A girl that is close friends with a boy,
i.e.-‘one of the boys’
Doritos
Woven hemp wristbands
Lava lamps
Tie dye
Oversize flannel shirts
No shirt
Beanbag chairs
Drool
Anything described as ‘gnarly’
Beaches
Chamomile tea
Open-toed Jesus sandals
No shoes
The electric guitar
Air guitar
Dude, Where’s My Car?
Cowboy boots
Cattle ranches
Chicken bacon ranch pizza
Expensive pants
No pants
5. A Dude can have a taste in art, but the
‘taste’ being referred to is altogether a delusion on the Dude’s part. In other
words, most Dudes do not have any prior knowledge of art.
6. Art is selected based on either visual
distraction (stimulation) or reputation.
7. An example
would be to select a ‘trippy’ tie-dye illustration or painting, because of its
colorful, distracting quality.
8. Another example would be for a Dude to select
an artwork that is made by a world-renown artist such as Pablo Picasso,
Salvador Dali, or Vincent Van Gogh. This artists particularly because of their
unique and again, ‘trippy’ styles of painting.
9. Still nothing is known about the work, only
that it is said to be great, therefore making the Dude’s taste in art
spectacular.
10. It does not matter if it is a strong piece
of art, or cliché pieces of rubbish; if a Dude is distracted, then they are
convinced.
11. It is merely by means of strengthening their
egos that Dudes purchase art, if at all.
12. Some might say, “If you’re a Dude, you’re Dumb.”
13. When referring to a Dude or speaking in a
Dude manner, one assumes the Dude affiliate to be less intelligent than the
average person. To be Dude is to not be the sharpest tack in the box, the
brightest bulb in the lamp, or the quickest fish in the brook.
14. All Dude paraphernalia, phrases, and ways of
life at least somewhat immature. A youthful essence, if you will. Even old
Dudes classify due to the lack of mature list of priorities and
accomplishments. Dudes are either not yet grown up, meaning they are still
teenagers or young adults, or they never will grow up, and their minds stay
childish.
15. Dude is to push away worries such as
education, benefiting society, money, and the expiration date on milk. In
return for this lifestyle, Dudes do not reap the benefits of a quality
education, and speak slower, think slower, and feel most at ease when chill.
16. When Dudes speak, it is in order to draw out
a word for emphasis. It is not a sweet car, it is a sweeeet carrrr.
17. The history of dude is an uncertain one,
though there are many theories. One such theory is that the word is derived
from the word ‘dud’, as in, “My, that cowboy has a sweet pair of duds. I wish I
dressed that well!” when referring to nice clothing. The term was then later
used in the 1920s to describe a dude ranch, which is a cattle ranch where rich
men would vacation and pretend to be rough n’ tough cowpokes living on nothing
but beef jerky and their own sweat, never tears. In reality however, these wealthy
men never wanted to get dirty or ruin their clothing, hence their ‘duds’ on a
‘dude’ ranch. Somehow, the general surfing population decided to add the word
to their expansive vocabulary, and thus Dude was born. Dude is then later used
by a plethora of adolescent youth; namely male, sometimes smoking reefer,
almost always awkward with ladies.
18. There is an almost innocent aspect to Dude,
mainly because of its childish and immature nature. If a Dude were to be for
the sake of discussion, under the influence of LSD, and having a bad
experience, one would either laugh or try to comfort the shaking and scared
Dude. Depending on the personality of the observer, of course.
19. There are several ways that Dude can be
interpreted when used as an exclamation: in awe, surprise, appreciation, anger,
sadness, disgust, disappointment, shock, disapproval, sympathy, excitement,
reproving, etc.
20. Here are some examples I have created for
further understanding:
21. Reproving: “Hey man, I hope you don’t mind
that I got tapioca on your brand-new bowling shirt.” “Dude...”
22. Excitement: “Dude! I just won a new pair of scissors on the radio! Sick!”
23. Anger: “Dude!
What the eff, man? That’s my mom!”
24. Sympathy: “Yo, you are not going to believe
this bro, but I lost my front-row seat ticket for Creedence tomorrow.” “Dude. Bummer.”
25. Awe: “Dude.
That chick has got the wine in the bottle, if you know what I mean.”
26. Disgust: “And then he had the nerve to use
that cheesy wine bottle pick-up line on me!” “Dude, that’s ridiculous!”
27. Shock: “Dude!
No way! I bought a new VCR too!”
28. Appreciation: “You traded your car for a
brand-new bong? Dude...You are a
lucky man.
29. Males are not the only ones who use the term
Dude. Although not as conventional, female use of the term Dude is on the rise.
30. According to a survey done by noted
dudeologist Scott F. Kiesling, females use Dude twice as much towards other
females than they do towards males (283).
31 Other variations of Dude have surfaced since
the word was first used. Among them are bro, chum, son, bud, buddy, man, kid,
etc.
32. To be a Dude, one must not be afraid to
sound stupid.
33. The hallmark of Dude is to not care about
anything except for what you are eating, and if you are cold, warm, or sleepy.
34. What is not Dude, but is rather close are
those that are referred to as hippies.
35. Hippies are not Dude because of the element
of love.
36. Dude does not love. Dude just chills.
37. To chill is to just be with the present
moment and not judge it or fight it, but accept it.
38. There
are two types of Dudes: active and inactive.
39. The active Dude skates, surfs, or
snowboards. The inactive Dude surfs the TV.
40. MTV is usually the channel of choice, namely
for the music videos.
40. Cheese products are for the most part a very
important aspect of Dude living. Perhaps it is because cheesy foods are
commonly used to reference foods associated with the munchies.
41. The munchies is a period of time which
occurs after a person is under the influence of cannabis, wherein the consumer
will have the ability and desire to eat large quantities of food that he
otherwise would not be able to keep down.
42. Dudes are often associated with pot, causing
them not to function in a completely focused, alert, or active way.
43. Dude is a middle finger so to speak, to the
capitalist, money grabbing and fast-paced society that we live in today.
“The Dude abides”- Jeffrey Bridges as his
character ‘The Dude’ in The Big Lebowski
44. In the Coen Brothers movie The Big Lebowski, the ‘hero’ is a man
known simply as ‘The Dude.’
45. No other movie has exploited the
stereotypical image of Dude as much as The
Big Lebowski.
46. The Dude’s clothes are a bathrobe, boxers, a
t shirt, a sweater, and the occasional bowling shirt and sunglasses.
47. The Dude’s manner of speech is limited,
although he can be surprisingly verbose at times.
48. The Dude’s lifestyle- sleeping, baths with
candles, listening to music, and bowling
49. The Dude’s diet i.e. - joints, beer, coffee,
and White Russian (a cocktail of vodka, cream, and Kahlúa)
51. No matter what ridiculous situation The Dude
is put into, or how many people are chasing him for his life, The Dude abides,
and carries on to seek his simple pleasures.
52. Despite the ignorant or unintelligent
appearance and manner of The Dude, the character is really quite complex and
can be interpreted in different ways.
53. Thus The Dude can be interpreted as having a
likeness to a Zen or Buddha figure, so to speak; what matters most to the Dude
in life stays consistent regardless of the negative happenings which are out of
his control. He creates his own happiness, and is accepting and comfortable
with who he is as an individual.
54. Another interpretation of The Dude is that
of a schlemiel figure. Schlemiel is a Yiddish word meaning, “an awkward and
unlucky person for whom things never turn out right.”
55. As previously mentioned in Note no. 44, The
Dude is reserved in that he does not control his surroundings, and would rather
stay at home and be comfortable than be out stirring trouble or causing
problems. In “The Dude As Modern Hero? Salvation And Jewish Storytelling In The Big Lebowski,” Eitan Kensky
writes about this submissiveness. He writes, “It is partly this passivity that
characterizes the Dude as schlemiel” (8). This seems to be a fairly accurate
perception, seeing as The Dude is a likable character who is always getting
shoved, pushed, hit, and toilet head-dunked, without any way to halt the
attacks that life seems to be throwing at him.
56. However, Kensky also writes that this
“schlemiel role…is only a part of his character and not the essential element”
(9). This may not be completely correct, for without The Dude completely
drenched in the role of the schlemiel, the entire film would lack structure and
cohesion. There would be no way to transition between plotlines; no means of
unity that helps the viewer understand the relationships between subjects and
characters.
57. In the end, The Dude brings a different
background and history to the meaning of ‘Dude’, one deriving from Jewish
storytelling, and influences the way Dude is used and thought of henceforth.
58. The term Dude has affected society and
adolescents in a way that has made the English language more personal, more
accessible, and more sweet, dude.
Works Cited
Ashe, Fred. "The
Really Big Sleep: Jeffrey Lebowski as the Second Coming of Rip Van
Winkle." The Year's Work in Lebowski
Studies. 41-57. Bloomington, IN: Indiana UP, 2009. MLA International Bibliography. Web. 26 Oct. 2012.
The Big Lebowski. Dir. Joel Coen. Perf. Jeff Bridges, John
Goodman, and Julianne Moore. Working Title Films, 1998. DVD.
"dude." Collins English Dictionary - Complete &
Unabridged 10th Edition. HarperCollins Publishers. Web. 12 Oct. 2012
"dude." Dictionary of Contemporary Slang.
London: A&C Black, 2007. Credo Reference. Web. 12 October 2012.
"duds." Dictionary of Contemporary Slang.
London: A&C Black, 2007. Credo Reference. Web. 12 October 2012.
Hill, Richard A.
"You've Come a Long Way, Dude: A History." American Speech. 69.3 (1994): 321-327. JSTOR Arts & Sciences III. Web. 26 Oct. 2012.
Kensky, Eitan. "The
Dude as Modern Hero? Salvation and Jewish Storytelling in The Big
Lebowski." Americana: The Journal Of
American Popular Culture (1900-Present).
9.1 (2010): MLA International Bibliography. Web. 12 Oct. 2012.
Kiesling, Scott F.
"Dude." American Speech.
79.3 (2004): 281-305. Communication & Mass Media Complete. Web. 12 Oct.
2012.
"schlemiel." Collins
English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. HarperCollins Publishers. Web. 19 Oct. 2012.
"white russian." Collins
English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 10th Edition. HarperCollins Publishers. Web. 19
Oct. 2012.
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