Hacker News Reader

Comment by arkis22 | Hacker News Reader

107. Holy cow. Dude did something right.

It's a shame your otherwise interesting point got sidetracked by a regional disagreement of definitions. Let's get back on track.

That was my first thought too. Just think about living to 107. That would mean she was born in (or around) 1910. A child during WW1, before cars were commonplace; a young adult during the great depression; an adult during WW2; the expansion of suburbs; through Vietnam, the computer revolution of the 80s, the Internet in the 90s... it must be amazing to observe that kind of time span first hand. A lot happens in a century.

Yes, she did...

Why italicize she?

Because it's a correction

"Dude" is typically understood to be male.

Where I grew up Dude is typically non-gendered.

I've used dudette frequently over the decades.

either-or really.

So clearly we should all look at language through the lens of your childhood experiences. Got it.

Lotta male tears here, but then again, it's Hacker News...

Please stop posting unsubstantive comments.

Yep. I've never seen anyone get offended by it unless they were joking. Dude is normally the same as saying yo.

Yep: https://youtu.be/BVj8peo1WGo

Women can be dudes.

Because italicizing words implies emphasis.

Fun fact: 'Dude' is has no implied gender in many parts of the world that use the word. Same with 'guys'.

You've heard the song, "Dude looks like a lady", right? It would make the title a lot less impactful if this was generally accepted.

You've heard the song, "A Boy Named Sue", right? It would make the title a lot less impactful if this was generally accepted.

I don't follow.

In California, dude is not gendered.

I've lived in California for 27 of my 41 years, about equally split between SoCal and Northern California, and I have never heard someone call a woman 'dude' without it being a mistake or a joke.

I've lived in California longer than you and for a higher percentage of my life. Born and raised: dude is not a gender-specific term.

The Atlantic notes that women use "dude" to address other women[1]. I'm not from California, and I'd agree that the most typical usage seems to be towards men, but I have heard women refer to other women as "dude".

[1] https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2013/11/dude-tr...

There are two distinct uses of "dude". One is as an exclamation (not a form of address). "Dude, I'd never do that" is the approximate example in the article, and a woman might say that to another woman. She is not calling the other woman a dude. Test this claim by trying the following: "Man, I'd never do that." "Gentleman, I'd never do that." "Fellow, I'd never do that." etc. The use of "man" and "dude" as an exclamation has made it into everyday conversation. "Man that sucks!" has become an expression of dismay devoid of gender and indeed not even directed at any particular human.

Then there is the use of "dude" to refer to a specific person (singular). This is a very rare use of "dude" in reference a woman, and usually is used as commentary rather than a literal descriptor, or ironically. "She's such a dude." It is definitely making a comment on gender or stereotypes.

I would be very confused if you referred to me as a dude in everyday conversation, wondering what you were trying to say. On the other hand, I did recently say about myself, "I'm such a dude" when making a comment about my approach to an unfortunately often-gender-stereotyped activity, housekeeping.

I didn't know that ...

Reply on news.ycombinator.com