Does anyone know what generation "dude" came from?

[Anonymous]

I want to say gen x but it might have been before me come to think about it. 80's? Surely not 70's or 60's.. help me out it's buggin' me.

Never thought it would be one of those things that never quite went away.

[Lliam]

For a while, no one knew where the word “dude” came from. All people did know is that in the late 1800s, people started using “dude” to refer to well-dressed, foppish Americans. It described a certain kind of (usually male) person who styled themselves in a way that made them look richer than they actually were.

The phrase first came into use in the lead-up to the Revolutionary War, and was used as an insult by the Brits against the Americans. Let’s break it down. “Yankee” was a word originally used by Dutch colonists to insult their fellow English colonists in the “New World.” “Doodle” is a word possibly derived from the German word Dödel, meaning “fool,” but it was also a slang term for the male genitalia, so you can conclude what you want. Lastly, “Dandy” is an English word referring to the ridiculously well-dressed in the 18th century. “Yankee Doodle” was an insult that the British applied to pretty much any American, but “Yankee Doodle Dandy” specifically applied to people who aspired to make money and join the upper class, copying British styles to look more refined. The insult didn’t work very well. Americans took the phrase and started wearing it as a badge of honor. In the late 18th century, Americans started singing a song called “Yankee Doodle” that embraced the term.

The phrase never fully went away, however. And by the end of the 19th century, people had gotten sick of saying the full “Yankee Doodle Dandy.” So around 1883, people (particularly in New York) started shortening it to “doods,” alternatively spelled “dudes.” The word was used in response to a certain fashion that was in vogue in the 1880s, but by the 1890s it had already become more general to refer to the “elite” who lived in cities.

Nobody uses “dude” in the traditional sense today.

It’s hard to pinpoint exactly when “dude” became a word for any person, but one conservative estimate is that it was a part of African American Vernacular English in the mid-1960s. This had probably been in use for a few decades already without catching the attention of others in the United States. It’s not clear exactly why Black Americans started using this word to refer to any general person — maybe ironically at first? — but it caught on.

And as often happens with the slang Black Americans start using, it was eventually co-opted by white people. In particular, surfers on the Pacific Coast of the United States took it up in the 1960s, and it filtered into other youth communities, particularly in California. It’s in the 1970s and on that it became associated with slacker and stoner culture.

Now when you call someone “dude,” it means you’re on the same side or that you think they are cool. In recent years, it can even be applied to women, like if a woman says something outlandish and you reply "Dude!"
Or you can just refer to anyone as dude, bro, or whatever, even if you don't know them. "Dude, why are you hassling me, bro?"

https://www.babbel.com/en/magazine/history-of-dude

[Asker]

Fascinating history of a simple garish word.

[WindAtMyBack]

For sure it was around by the early 70s. It was common in California then, but not so common in other parts of the country. It may have been around much longer than that. But the early 70s are the earliest I remember hearing it when I traveled to California.

[FunkyMonkee]

The early `80's with surfers and valley girls.
Check out the movie, "Valley Girl". It's LOADED with that vernacular because that's where it came from. I'm almost surprised you don't know that since you were born before that time.

https://youtu.be/uhH9ewIEbnU?si=qcTWcuAzaIcuVDJt

Or, "Surf II".

[Dongie]

The old west! Then as modernization expanded westward the novelty of ranching became fashionable to the rich and spoiled. Picking up on the old cowboy term the Dude Ranch became the hangout for the budding moving picture business. From there it thrived into the thirties as the gangland withered and depression era took over. War, peace, the 50's and came a short resurgence for the Dude Ranch and as Rock was born the term became a hip use to throw around.

[lightbulb27]

I heard it in the 80's not the 70's. so there's your answer.

It may be fast times at ridgemont high... Spikoli... aka Shaun Penn.

[AviatorTom]

Without looking it up, I think "dude" came from surfers in the 1950s and 60s.

[slatyb]

online sources say it appeared around 1880. You can search "dude etymology"

[goaded]

I'd guess Californian surfers, maybe even as early as the 1960's.

[BarryLiverstone]

Dude, Where's My Car? Came out in 2000.. my guess is the 1980s

[OneViewpoint]

1960's Boomers.

[NaultD]

1800. Yankee doodle. Yankee dude.

[ChicoFromThe305]

I don't know but I think hippies invented it 😂

[sirderpsalot123]

I don't know dude

[Dongie]

Sweeeet...

[sirderpsalot123]

@Dongie dude, where's my car?

[Dongie]

I remember! 'Dude looks like a lady'.

[beefcakebradybatson]

I believe the 70's, dude.

[Dongie]

Finally! Now was that so hard?

[Snakeyes7]

80s or 90s most likely

[DrPepper12]

X all the way