"dude"

[John of the Skulkers Mess]

as Lee Marvin said

What, no one is going to bring up 'The Man Who Shot Liberty Valence'....

:p

[pvt_vp]

Re: "dude"

Well, there used to be "Dude Ranches", where rich or well off young men would go to pretend to be a cowboy/rancher/etc. Basically they were like resorts. Dude also came to mean a well dressed man from out east. Hope that helped.

[john.vansickle]

Re: "dude"

One of the things that we often forget is that in the mid-nineteenth century, there was often a greater state of cultural isolation than exists today. This contributes to a much greater sense of regionalization and fosters colloquialisms. A term of phrase might make sense in the California oilfields, Southern Cotton fields, Northern Woods, etc... but might be lost on some listeners in other regions. An example of this is the term "widow-maker". It might be used to identify a crack-shot. In 19th century Northern Michigan logging terminology, it referred to a dead tree or limb leaning against another creating a dangerous situation overhead.

These phrases might also take decades to travel and be adopted, especially in more rural or isolated areas. Today, we have a more or less "pan-culture" despite the size of our nation. Compare that with Europe. Probably the best source of phrases would be to look at local newpapers or even better, period letters, or diaries because people tend to write as they speak. With a large enough database, it might be possible to compile a lexicon of period, regionalized phrases and words. Add to that, the words and phrases that might be present in an ethnic unit and things could get really interesting.

--Just my two pence.

John Van Sickle