The meaning of the word "dude" seems clear to some, and confuses the other. It is used today regularly, both by young people and representatives of the generation whose youth fell on the 70s of the last century. Let's look at it in more detail.
What does it mean?
The meaning of the word “dude” is comparable to the more literate: “man”, “guy”, “man”. That is, they call them a male person, mostly unfamiliar to you. Although a lot here depends on the context, for example, in the phrase "Come on, man, don’t worry!" this word is interpreted as “friend” or “brother”. That is, like most slang expressions, it has several meanings. Among the vocabulary of today's students and other youth, especially in large cities, it has lost its popularity and is used quite rarely. When this expression appeared in our language, where did it come from, and was the meaning of the word “dude” always the same as it is now?
Stylishly
According to one version, the word "dude" came to us from the dudes - representatives of the fashionable and at the same time condemned and punished informal youth movement in the USSR. Its representatives tried to imitate the people living in America, duplicating their way of dressing and combing their hair, listening to foreign music, etc. All this looks especially wonderful provided that during the time of the Land of Soviets such a lifestyle was strongly condemned, and America itself and even more or less reliable information about the life of its citizens for anyone who was not “traveling” or close to him (that is, for 95% of the population) was a secret under a bunch of locks. From the phrase "A man respecting American Culture," an abbreviation was formed, which has become popular and in a narrow circle. At this time, the meaning of the word “dude” could correspond to “guy”, “whip”, “dandy”, and could be synonymous with his man - one who would not give up the dude. In the feminine version, it sounds like a “dude” or “chuva”.
By hairdryer
But the people of Asia are called a young castrated sheep or goat. In the slang version, they are repelled just from this variant of word formation, since it so historically has turned out that the vast majority of the vocabulary of thieves and villains have a bright sexual connotation or follow from the words involved in the intimacy. Perhaps this is somehow connected with the years spent behind bars in the absence of women? They call a dude a young man with certain problems in the field of sexual relations.
What experts say
If we turn to serious books compiled by masters of colloquial and written speech, and want to find out, for example, the meaning of the word “dude” according to Dahl, we simply will not find it in the dictionary. In the jargon - it is, in the slang - it is, but in Vladimir Ivanovich - no. Do not find it in the "Modern Explanatory Dictionary" of 2003. From which we can conclude that the word "dude" did not enter the ranks of a full-fledged, literary language, remaining in certain circles, and is losing its popularity every year. It already indicates belonging to the last century, and more modern slang words appeared to replace it.