ADS-L Digest - 24 Nov 2007 to 25 Nov 2007 (#2007-330)

[Jonathan Lighter]

Thanks, Chris.  Perhaps one day we'll get to the "bottom" of this canard.

  JL

Chris Kern <chriskern99 at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Chris Kern
Subject: Re: ADS-L Digest - 24 Nov 2007 to 25 Nov 2007 (#2007-330)
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

On Nov 26, 2007 12:00 AM, Automatic digest processor

wrote:
> My granddaughter reports that the above definition (in a more vernacular form) is currently regarded as the "real" (i.e., original) meaning of >"dude" in her third-grade class.
>
> UrbanDictionary.com provides support for this position. Earlier exx. are found on Usenet from 1998, with an ambiguous ex. from so long >ago as 1994. Google "dude"/"dood" and "elephant's butt."

I can attest (without documented evidence, alas) that this was
considered to be the "real" definition of "dude" when I was in
elementary school in the early 80's, in NW Indiana. Also, "cool dude"
was a frozen version of the above. I have no clue why or how this
started.

-Chris

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



---------------------------------
Never miss a thing.   Make Yahoo your homepage.

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org