Re: Secret Life: AR a "Dude"?


Posted by Dave Thewlis on September 22, 2005 at 16:23:30 user dthewlis.

In Reply to: Re: Secret Life: AR a "Dude"? posted by Owen Roberts on September 21, 2005 at 17:36:33:

A "dude ranch" I think originally referred to a sort of resort ranch where inexperienced easterners (and others) could come and experience the "real" west while partaking of many cowboy-like activities, usually made as safe as possible and perhaps somewhat denatured. Sometimes these ranches were actual, real, working ranches, and sometimes they were strictly resorts. The parallel would be farmehouse B&Bs with resort hotels.

So a "dude" was out of place and inexperienced, probably a "citified easterner".

Somehow it has morphed so today young males use the term simply to mean "guy" with perhaps a slight overtone of companionship - but nowhere near the term "mate" as used by the British etc. ("Mate" in the US usually means either an officer on a ship, or one's spouse/significant other, when a noun.)


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