http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001705.html As a native speaker of Dude (originally Northern Californian, influenced recently by Southern Californian speech), I feel the need to address Mark's "injured finger" interpretation of the Zits cartoon. Bottom line: I think it's just not possible to interpret "Dude?"... en-us http://www.collisiondetection.net/mt/archives/001061.html Originally, the word "dude" meant "an old rag". A "dudesman" was a scarecrow, built out of scrap cloth. In the late 1800s people started using it to describe a overly-well-dressed dandy. But then in 1981, Sean Penn's use of "dude" in Fast Times at Rid...