DUUUUUUUDE!

When talking about the Male-Identified piece of Patriarchy this week in class I started thinking about the word 'dude'. I can't lie I use the word a lot in my slang with friends and I usually don't think about the male context/origins. According to the Merriam-Webster Dictionary dude is defined as:

1: a man extremely fastidious in dress and manner
2 : a city dweller unfamiliar with life on the range; especially : an Easterner in the West
3: FELLOW, GUY —sometimes used informally as a term of address

In the speech community of my friends and much of popular culture, the word 'dude' is used as a way to address other people but it is not gender specific. As well, 'dude' is sometimes used as an exclamation, similar to "Check it out!" or "Oh my Gosh!"What was once specifically male is more often now just how "it is".

Another way of looking at this is looking into languages in which words and verbs are gendered. For example in Spanish when referring to a group of children you could call them 'chicos' (masculine) or 'chicas" (feminine). When the group is all females you would refer to them as 'chicas', but if the group was all males OR a group of both males and females you would refer to them as 'chicos'.

Going back to my dude concept, I recently have had several friends reminisce on a movie from our generation's childhood, "Good Burger." With relishing in the movie several of them have become 'Facebook Fans' of the song "We're All Dudes" by Less than Jake ft. Kel Mitchell. The song is mostly a ska party-anthem for Ed and Dexter at the Good Burger, but it shows how the word 'dude' has evolved from the masculine to the "how it is".

"I'm a dude, he's a dude, she's a dude, we're all dudes, hey" - (Mitchell,1997)

I don't know if my realization about the male identity behind the word 'dude' will curb my use of it, but I feel good about the fact that I realize its there. I guess I'll catch you later dudes (or not dudes).