# "Dude"=Elephant butt hair? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 23, 2001, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dude-elephant-butt-hair/55549 "2001-02-23T02:31:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![mblackwell](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5fc32e/32.png) [@mblackwell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mblackwell)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dude-elephant-butt-hair/55549/1 "2001-02-23T02:31:28Z")
I have heard that the word “dude” means a hair on an elephant’s butt. Specifically an infected one. Is there any truth to this statment? A web search found one of those lists of “facts.” I searched snopes and found nothing. ---
**Author:** ![bare](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bare/32/471_2.png) [@bare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bare)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dude-elephant-butt-hair/55549/2 "2001-02-23T02:49:12Z")
Pussed out butt hair…HEHEHE. I hope,hope,hope it’s true dude! ---
**Author:** ![Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/258eb7/32.png) [@Wonko\_The\_Sane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wonko_The_Sane)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dude-elephant-butt-hair/55549/3 "2001-02-23T03:27:05Z")
I heard it was a reference to a horse’s (or donkey’s) boy parts. ---
**Author:** ![Diceman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Diceman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Diceman)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 5:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dude-elephant-butt-hair/55549/4 "2001-02-23T05:10:13Z")
Years ago I heard that ‘dudes’ were an elephant’s anal hairs. If was a long time before I could hear someone say “Dude!” without snickering :). ---
**Author:** ![kferr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/71e660/32.png) [@kferr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kferr)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 4:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dude-elephant-butt-hair/55549/5 "2001-02-23T16:04:15Z")
What I want to know is why an infected elephant ass hair needs a name of its own? And wouldn’t “Infected Elephant Ass Hair” be a cool name for a band? ---
**Author:** ![Jman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jman/32/4416_2.png) [@Jman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jman)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 4:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dude-elephant-butt-hair/55549/6 "2001-02-23T16:11:58Z")
I also had heard the rumor that it is a horse’s private anatomy. The dictionary sites lend no evidence to either…I think they’re just widespread rumors, of which two variants developed. Jman ---
**Author:** ![sliv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/f0a364/32.png) [@sliv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sliv)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dude-elephant-butt-hair/55549/7 "2001-02-23T17:34:28Z")
The story I remember hearing (and of course, I’ve no idea where) is that the hairs from an elephant’s butt are particularly strong and soft, and so were imported into Europe for use in painter’s brushes. The word came to be associated with something soft and delicate, and then came to be associated with people who are soft and delicate. Hence “Dude Ranch” where pampered city slickers went to experience the wild west. Somehow the meaning mutated again, becoming someone vaguely cool. I’ve no idea if the above story is true or not. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dude-elephant-butt-hair/55549/8 "2001-02-23T18:03:29Z")
_Dude_ was originally a slang term in 1880’s New York. From the OED: > [@](#): > > A name given in ridicule to a man affecting an exaggerated fastidiousness in dress, speech, and deportment, and very particular about what is æsthetically ‘good form’; hence, extended to an exquisite, a dandy, ‘a swell’. One possibility is that _dude_ came from _dud_, meaning “an article of clothing.” The _dude_ of “dude ranch” probably comes from well-dressed Easterners taking a vacation on ranches. During the 1930s, _dude_ came to mean a generic “guy,” leading eventually to surfer lingo. The Word Detective has an article on [dude](http://www.word-detective.com/back-k2.html#dude). It’s funny how a _dude_ was originally a fancy dresser to today’s sense of _dude_ as more of the slacker type. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dude-elephant-butt-hair/55549/9 "2001-02-23T18:05:49Z")
Let’s try that link again: =http://www.word-detective.com/back-k2.html#dude"]dude ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2001, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dude-elephant-butt-hair/55549/10 "2001-02-23T18:13:31Z")
Boy, I’m doing pretty well here. One more time, and this time I’ll preview. [dude](http://www.word-detective.com/back-k2.html#dude) Yay! It worked.