Comments on: Dude, where’s my definition?

By: Jon

Jon — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 12:26:09 +0000

My friends and I use “dude” all the time, along with the word “awesome”.

We use “awesome” so much, even when things are pretty average. We also use “awesome” in place of the word “OK” sometimes.

Example:
“I got a pizza from the supermarket.”
“Awesome, let’s have it now.”

By: Tarcizo Lima

Tarcizo Lima — Fri, 18 Mar 2011 05:10:13 +0000

well … i dont see the word “dude” as a word used only by surfers … i have a lot of friends who are not surfers we usually call each other dude … maybe it was originallly used by surfers but nowadays its use is very spread … the article is nice though

By: Rabbit Roberts

Rabbit Roberts — Sun, 07 Nov 2010 06:04:05 +0000

Well dude, I hate to be the first one to break it to ya, but you’ve misspelled “Haole” as “Howlie” and, unless the majority of the surfers in your area are werewolves, you’ll need to be changing that one. Sorry dude! Haole means white guy/foreigner in Hawaiian, and hapa-haole means half-Hawaiian.

By: Shane R

Shane R — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 15:01:10 +0000

Happy to be so widely loved!

By: Gene Wilkes

Gene Wilkes — Thu, 10 Dec 2009 02:06:26 +0000

Interesting this “dude” conversation. Where I come from in the Caribbean “Dood ” is short for “dou dou”, (“doux” meaning sweet) from French Patois which was once widely spoken in Trinidad where I live and what is now called Kweyol in places like St Lucia and Dominica.
So lovers would call each other “doud” or “douds” when they feeling romantic.

By: Steve Hall

Steve Hall — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 07:08:12 +0000

In fact, the correct spelling is “haole.” I’m from California; Ventura and Los Angeles to be precise, and while I’m not a surfer myself, I know a bit about the culture. My dictionary defines “haole,” but not “howlie,” although the former is pronounced as you might sound out the latter.

By: Louise Giorgi

Louise Giorgi — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:47:12 +0000

I totally love the term ‘dude’ – it always, always makes me smile. I always interpret it as a friendly term of address. As a ‘Howlie’, and a British one at that, I feel I can’t use it spontaneously to anyone – girl or boy – without feeling a little ridiculous; it’s just doesn’t form a part of my natural northern English ‘idiolect’, which (I think?) is the pretentious sociolinguistic term for the idiosyncratic way we all use language, which is unique to each of us. I agree with Helen that it’s not one word or phrase that defines us; it’s delivery, accent, tone of voice, social class even, how we play with words (or not) that makes up our own linguistic personality. It’s definitely not about one word.

By: iTeach

iTeach — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:42:28 +0000

Haha, great! I’m going to experiement with this on my students. See if any of them over-use words that actually define them in some way. I can think of a few now. The psychology of words. Love it dude!

Daniel

By: Shane

Shane — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 20:20:43 +0000

@JPersico

Right there with you on what you are saying. I know plenty of Lexicographers alright. A fair few actually ARE dudes!

Words are well nang!

By: Andrej T

Andrej T — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 19:52:19 +0000

Dude!!!

Ok, did dictionaries become cool when I wasn’t looking? Nice blog.