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Dude Abides

THURSDAY DECEMBER 9 2004 10:00 AM

Submitted by adjunct. Edited By SquidProQuo.

Scott Kiesling, a linguist at Pitt, has finally managed to quantify some of the vast number of meanings of Bill and Ted's and Beavis and Butthead's-- I confess, sometimes even my own-- favorite word. It turns out that dude, the endlessly useful, endlessly irritating verbal shortcut of the linguistically lazy has, in fact, a variety of uses that cover more than just "dude, gimme another brewski."

Kiesling says in the fall edition of American Speech that the word derives its power from something he calls cool solidarity -- an effortless kinship that's not too intimate.

Cool solidarity is especially important to young men who are under social pressure to be close with other young men, but not enough to be suspected as gay.

Kiesling's research, conducted in situ at a frat house in 1993 and by surveys of undergrads in 2001-2002, demonstrates what we already know: dude can be used as shorthand for an endless variety of phrases.

However, Kiesling also shows how dude has become a kind of term of endearment that's relaxed and non-conformist, but not too endearing and strictly heterosexual. Better yet, he's published all of his data so the public can learn new and innovative uses of dude and our parents can figure out what the hell we're talking about.

28 Comments

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arariel

Oklahoma City, OK

November 2004

DEC 09, 2004 10:36 AM

dude.

thelost

United Kingdom

June 2004

DEC 09, 2004 10:38 AM

sweeeeeet....

Clunk

United Kingdom

August 2004

DEC 09, 2004 10:45 AM

Dude

Merry

Saint John, NB

December 2002

DEC 09, 2004 10:45 AM

d00d!

_Mr_TLB_

United Kingdom

January 2004

DEC 09, 2004 10:46 AM

what about "Dudette"?

freshprncebelair

Ellicott City, MD

June 2004

DEC 09, 2004 10:47 AM

flippin sweet

moniker42

Seattle, WA

October 2003

DEC 09, 2004 10:52 AM

I happen to find Bill and Ted's to be one of the two greatest comedies ever made.

I know, I know, but really.

Damn funny movies.

pascalpp

Brooklyn, NY

January 2004

DEC 09, 2004 10:53 AM

Strictly heterosexual? Kiesling has obviously never been to a Gay Dude Ranch.

Lego

United Kingdom

June 2003

DEC 09, 2004 11:08 AM

Gnarly.

adjunct

Philadelphia, PA

July 2002

DEC 09, 2004 11:21 AM

thelastbeliever said:
what about "Dudette"?

Dude, actually. Kiesling found out that some women call each other dude, but there seem to be some complex social rules around that use.

Okuma

Pensacola, FL

June 2004

DEC 09, 2004 11:25 AM

He went to a frat house and came out with the conclusion that 'dude' is strictly heterosexual? I never thought anything hetero came out of a frat house.

adjunct

Philadelphia, PA

July 2002

DEC 09, 2004 11:39 AM

Okuma said:
He went to a frat house and came out with the conclusion that 'dude' is strictly heterosexual? I never thought anything hetero came out of a frat house.

I think it's something like being able to call your frat brothers honey, without being, you know, gay.

threejane

San Francisco, CA

November 2004

DEC 09, 2004 11:53 AM

Tubular.

BigBuddha

Wethersfield, CT

July 2004

DEC 09, 2004 12:44 PM

Gnarley!

benizdead

United Kingdom

February 2003

DEC 09, 2004 01:02 PM

whoah, i mean, like, the actual dictionary 'old-school' definition of a 'dude' is a whole different story, but hey, if those guys feel comfortable, then i'm not going to question anything.

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