Recently, on this board I called someone a dude (being unaware of said persons gender) and was corrected. Ahem, dudette (which is wrong on so many levels, but I digress) I was a little surprised to be corrected because I had thought common usage had taken this term to gender non specific territory. Dude = a cool person. Perhaps I am mistaken, but if this is the case, it will become my mission to make the term gender neutral, because “Dude, you rock!” is a wonderfully evocative compliment, and should be able to apply to dames and blokes alike.
So guys (also gender neutral now) what do you think, are chicks dudes?
I think of it as gender neutral. At my (all female) bridal shower I called a friend dude, only to surprise my aunt and prompt my mother to ask if there was anyone I don’t call dude. Hell, I think I called GingerOfTheNorth dude recently, but I’m not sure.
Originally, in my world at least, it denoted a male, but slowly it has become more and more gender neutral. It appears that it is still in transition into full public acceptance as a gender neutral term, so there still emerge slang faux pas, as it were.
As a side note, I’ve noticed an increasing tendency for females to use the term. Until a few years ago, it seemed to be solely the inclination of males to use it.
Coincidentally, I’ve also noticed a decline in the usage of “chick.”
Gender-neutral as an interjection. If I were to say, “There was this dude standing down by the corner,” that would mean a male, but something like, “Dude, come check this out!” can be addressed to either gender
Still male to me – I’m always vaguely surprised (though touched, in a “how nice this young person is being to me” sort of way) to be addressed as “dude.”
I have noticed it being used more and more gender-neutral, though I still think of it referring to a male. I rarely use it, preferring “man” and “chick”. But I’m old enough to remember using “right on” the first time it was cool :rolleyes:
I agree with Geobabe. I refuse to be called a dudette, and always have, since (even as a young child) it seemed condescending to me. But “dudette” is usually used as an interjection; to the point, at least, where I would be mildly amused if someone said, “That dudette over there looks pretty crazy.”
Also, my spellcheck (MS Word) doesn’t accept “dudette” as a real word.
“A dude” (as opposed to the genderless exclamation, Duuuuuude…) is certainly (expected to be) male to my ears. Consider the Aerosmith song, Dude Looks Like a Lady. Not very funny or surprising if, well, Dude Could Always Have Been A Lady.
Pretty much how I see it. I still hear it as male but wouldn’t be put off being called that depending on context.
Really? What a shame. I liked “chick”, as a term that was reclaimed from its ignominious past (rather like “queer”). Hate to see it go…particularly if it means I’ll get called “dude”!
I find “dude” to be masculine (though I hate “dudette”, I used it because it was the weirdest sounding word and it made me laugh (that was probably the same day of my insomnia trippiness), yet would set the record straight on my sex*). It might just be how I was raised; I used to use “man” or “dude” all the time as a young child and as a teenager, and my mother would get very irritated and tell me to not address her in masculine terms. She is a lady, or so she claims. Somewhere along the line, as girls so often hate but usually do anyway, I turned into my mother, and her preference of not being called by something she considered “masculine” rubbed off on me.
I’m willing to believe that the usage has become gender-neutral, but it still makes me feel weird to be called a dude.
is my username really gender-neutral? I’d always thought it was very feminine. This isn’t the first time it’s happened on this board, so perhaps it’s time I rethink that.
I’ve been reading Annie Proulx’s collection of Wyoming stories, Close Range, in which the term “Dude-ranching” is used to describe ranches whose owners have given up running cattle and taken in tourists instead. There is a party of female New York lawyers who have to be escorted on the riding trails, and they are called by the main character, “lawyer dudes.”
Besides, if it’s not gender-neutral then it cuts down the times you can utilise the expression “Phone’s ringing dude…” by 50%, which would be a shame.
