Does anyone else hate being called "Dude"? Or is it just me? ...
I know that I wrote about this elsewhere, but it was a long time ago, and searching "dude" isn't that helpful. :wink:
Anyway, you'd never make it in L.A. :tongue: Most people under 50, and definitely anyone under 40, that are at least peers (it's still not a term you'd use when trying to be respectful), call each other "Dude", and gender isn't a factor either. That is, guys call girls "Dude", and girls call girls "Dude", and of course, everyone call guys "Dude" (although personally, I don't call a girl "Dude" until I'm on familiar terms with her, but typically people under 30, and definitely those under 25, don't have that hangup here). "Dude, what's up?" "Dude, that's awesome." "Dude, seriously???" Then the universal (depending on delivery and context), "D-u-u-u-de!" (meaning, "that's messed up", "awesome", or "SCORE!"). It's used as a very levelling, "we're 'cool' with each other"/"we're in this together" form of address.
Now, in L.A. that's how things are, but when I go home to the midwest, most people think I've "gone L.A.", and ask, "Do you really use that?", or in an even more shocked way, "Did you just say 'Dude'?". Then, I pretty much have to launch into the above paragraph, especially after, say, I get off the phone, and tell them, "yeah, it was this girl in L.A. that I know."
