David K. Israel
15 variations on the meaning of the word “dude”
by David K. Israel - November 28, 2011 - 12:58 PM

I was sort of a linguistic snob in college. I preferred big words to small, little-known words to ubiquitous, and archaic to colloquial. The present-day me would have never hung out with the college version of me. For example, when I wanted to get dinner, I’d go down the hall to one of my friend’s rooms and say, “Jeremy, do you want to go get some supper now? They have pizza tonight.” Nearly 20 syllables! Meanwhile, Jeremy’s roommate, a thick-necked kid they called Alfie with a tattoo of a .22 caliber on his forearm was able to say the exact same thing as me using precisely TWO syllables: “Dude, za?”

Though I’d never admit it to myself back then, Alfie taught me a very important lesson that semester: words and syllables don’t matter as much as inflection, context and intention. Don’t believe me? Check out the following 15 variations on the word dude that I’ve recorded.

Great job!

Is that you?

What are you doing?


Good to see you!

We scored!

Why did you do that?!

Wait, you did this?

Cut it out!

Hey, I’m over here!

Time to wake up…

You’re really getting on my nerves!

Hi, what’s up?

You can’t be serious!

Did I just see who I thought I saw?

You’re such a bot!

Think I left any off the list? Feel free to include your own SoundCloud recording in the comments and maybe if we get enough of them, I’ll even turn them into a post later this week!

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Comments (10)

  1. Lol. David, you are CRAZY man!!!

    posted by xanderjones on 11-28-2011 at 2:11 pm

  2. Love 3,6,7 and hope to never hear #10 rouse me from my sleep!

    Duuude! = freak’in funny post!

    (couldn’t find the soundcloud link so this will have to do)

    posted by Kathy on 11-28-2011 at 2:39 pm

  3. Great stuff, David!

    I was thinking recently that “dude” is possibly the only slangy term to come close to the ubiquity of the old stand-by “cool”. Your article lends itself to this idea; thank you.

    Now, if somebody would just tell me what the hell “tiger mother” means, I’ll be all set.

    posted by Tim H. on 11-28-2011 at 3:09 pm

  4. Let me explain something to you. Um, I am not “Mr. Lebowski”. You’re Mr. Lebowski. I’m the Dude. So that’s what you call me. You know, that or, uh, His Dudeness, or uh, Duder, or El Duderino if you’re not into the whole brevity thing.

    posted by Amy on 11-28-2011 at 3:11 pm

  5. “Dude” is human for the dog’s “bark” or the baby’s cry. It is all inflection, context and intention. Either way, it puts Alfie in some interesting company when it comes to communication skills.

    Btw, in the Army “hooah” is the same kind of word. Everything from “Yes, Sir” to “Are you frigging nuts?” (Keeping it clean for those of you at work)

    posted by DaveP on 11-28-2011 at 4:16 pm

  6. There is also something else that we are missing with just the words. When I read your description and then listen to the word, I am imagining your non verbals as well, like head movement and eyes. Very funny.

    posted by Nathan on 11-28-2011 at 5:07 pm

  7. the sound clips don’t work in my phone’s browser, but I explained it to my boyfriend and read the phrases and he gave me the appropriate sounding dude. we had a good laugh. :)

    posted by Jannae on 11-28-2011 at 10:26 pm

  8. This was actually used in the pre-SNL stand-up act of Rob Schnieder.

    posted by Flamingo Girl on 11-29-2011 at 9:38 am

  9. I’m reminded of a scene from Baseketball where Trey Parker and Matt Stone have an entire conversation using just the word “dude.”
    It was very easy to understand exactly what they were saying.

    posted by Lola on 11-29-2011 at 1:28 pm

  10. Not Rob Schneider, but David Spade.
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QqfZ8nvj-yI

    posted by Some guy on 11-29-2011 at 5:30 pm

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