It’s everywhere. When President Obama agreed to appear on Comedy Central during the 2010 electoral campaign, Jon Stewart called him “Dude’’ instead of the required “Mr. President.’’ Later, Obama said he didn’t mind: “As president, you’re called much worse than ‘Dude.’ ’’ This month political wannabe Joseph P. Kennedy III blew off a Herald reporter with the phrase, “Dude, I’m at work.’’ The Herald returned the favor with a Page One cover line: “Camelot He’s Not.’’
I just spent a wonderful vacation with my young sons, who occasionally mistook me for a “dude,’’ as in, “Dude, you’ve got to check out this Lonely Island video.’’ “Venerated paterfamilias’’ seems far more appropriate. Where I work, the D-word is everywhere; e.g., “Dude, you misspelled Gisele Bundchen’s name again.’’ If the dog could talk - and I think she’s working up to that - she’d probably call me “Dude,’’ too.
Let me make a few things clear. I am well over 50 years old. Most of my hair is gray. I have arthritis in one hip. I may become a grandparent in the not too distant future. About the only thing I haven’t been accused of at work is making advances at younger women. I am no one’s dude.
According to the Oxford English Dictionary, dude is “a factitious slang term which came into vogue in New York about the beginning of 1883 in connexion with the ‘aesthetic’ craze of that day.’’ Talk about unhelpful. 1. They can’t spell “connection’’; 2. They don’t tell you that “factitious’’ means “artificial’’; 3. This has nothing to do with the current ubiquity of “dude.’’
More helpfully, the web-based Urban Dictionary acknowledges that dude has become “the universal pronoun . . . a word that Americans use to address each other. Particularly stoners, surfers, and skaters.’’ And they provide a sample usage:
Dude1: “Sup dude!’’
Dude2: “My cat has rabies.’’
Dudette: “Duuuhhuude.’’
Dude1: “ Let’s go smoke some choop.’’
“Choop,’’ Urban Dictionary explains, is “a word for pot that can be used in public because no one knows what it means.’’
