Wikipedia:Reference desk/Archives/Language/2010 August 11

= August 11 =

The origin and myth of the 'dude' language use
Hi,

I have a heated debate with many people about the use of the word 'dude'. It has been widely believed, used and postulated by Australians that the word dude somehow means camels dick or foreskin. I wonder where this idea orginated, given dude has many other colloquial meanings in the USA and in England.

Can you please help resolve this historical and/or slang usage.

Thank you kindly,

Emma Crichton. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Emmaseeks (talk • contribs) 09:11, 11 August 2010 (UTC)


 * Negative data, but I can tell you that the 1971 edition of the Complete Oxford English Dictionary gives no meanings of the word other than the primary one of (brutally summarizing) a slang term for a young man, which emerged in New York in early 1883 and initially referred to (in the context of the "aesthetic" craze of that time) a "swell" or "dandy" (its precise origin being unknown). Coming from a land which has some reputation for inventing humorous falsehoods to gull visitors (e.g. the Drop bear), this story might be suspected of being another such, though given Australia's historical use, and feral population, of camels, it could be a valid local coinage. (Note to fellow Wikepedians: I have made a considerable Assumption of the OP's Good Faith in answering this query :-) .) 87.81.230.195 (talk) 10:24, 11 August 2010 (UTC)
 * The Online Etymological Dictionary confirms that it started as 19th century New York City slang (of unknown origin) for an "aesthetic" young man. +Angr 12:50, 11 August 2010 (UTC)
 * The camel thing looks like a folk etymology. The folk etymology in the US (at least when I was in middle school) was that "dude" meant a cow's anus or something like that. r ʨ anaɢ (talk) 13:08, 11 August 2010 (UTC)
 * The folk etymology in Canada when I was in school was that it meant a wart on a horse's butt. Paul Davidson (talk) 13:11, 11 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Those are mistaken etymologies, but I don't see how they're folk etymologies. +Angr 13:20, 11 August 2010 (UTC)
 * The way I heard it (also in Canada) was "a pimple on a donkey's butt". Adam Bishop (talk) 16:17, 11 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Northern California, late 80s: "hair on an elephant's butt". Someone needs to get the Dictionary_of_American_Regional_English folks on the case.--Atemperman (talk) 22:28, 11 August 2010 (UTC)
 * UK, late 90s, "elephant penis". I think the joke is to get people to repeat the definition: it's a memetic prank. 213.122.18.70 (talk) 23:28, 11 August 2010 (UTC)
 * I agree with Angr: they are not folk etymologies. What they very plausibly might be are "joke etymologies", i.e. these stories of unflattering meanings might have been circulated as jokes and eventually, taken out of context, believed. --ColinFine (talk) 19:13, 11 August 2010 (UTC)
 * I do remember looking it up in my Hans-Wehr Arabic Dictionary, and found something like ضوض that meant something bad, but I don't remember what. Of course it's more pronounced [do:d] than [du:d], but it was amusing. Steewi (talk) 02:27, 12 August 2010 (UTC)
 * As far as I can tell, ضوضاء means "noise, uproar, hubbub"... AnonMoos (talk) 06:38, 12 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Edward Lane's lexicon says "duwadiyah" means "a camel excited by lust". Adam Bishop (talk) 15:30, 12 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Wow that adds strange new layers of meaning to Do Wah Diddy Diddy.  meltBanana  13:33, 13 August 2010 (UTC)
 * Every teenage boy knows what sometimes happens when "There I was just walking down the street", or "just sitting on the bus", or "just sitting in class", or "just anywhere". Was this potentially embarrassing erectile randomness what they were referring to with "do wah diddy diddy"?  Makes a whole lot of sense in the context of this conversation.  :)  --   Jack of Oz    ... speak! ...   23:10, 13 August 2010 (UTC)
 * "There she was just a-walking down the street"??? --TammyMoet (talk) 10:27, 14 August 2010 (UTC)
 * That too. :) --   Jack of Oz    ... speak! ...   10:47, 14 August 2010 (UTC)