"dudo", 1840, meaning ???

[Jonathan Lighter]

My guess too is "duds."

JL

On Thu, Jun 23, 2011 at 1:41 PM, Cohen, Gerald Leonard <gcohen at mst.edu>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at MST.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "dudo", 1840, meaning ???
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>
> Not at all likely to be "dude."  My guess is it's a misprint for "duds"
> (clothes),
> and this was the term used by the women when the police or reporter showed
> up.
> ---- G. Cohen
>
> ________________________________
>
> From: Original message from George Thompson, Thu 6/23/2011 12:27 PM:
>
>     *Mayhem*. -- On Friday evening three black wenches residing at 40
> Wooster st. . . . , got into a wrangle about some *dudo* claimed as the
> common property of the trio.    ***
>     Morning Courier & New-York Enquirer, June 8, 1840, p. 2, col. 3
>
> My notes don't make it explicit that the "dudo" (which was italicized) was
> a
> person, specifically a man, but presumably so.
> Can this be connected with the word "dude", not recorded until about 40
> years later?
> GAT
> George A. Thompson
>
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