A word flung around by surfers, hippies and often the filler word for my friend José, finally has some explanation. I had a feeling it had something to do with the divide between residents in the Western US versus wealthy Eastern US residents visiting or moving to the Old West/Cowboy regions Hollywood romanticized. Why? Dude Ranches for one. These were probably sanitized ranches for tourists who thought they were experiencing the real lifestyle. Today, we call this EPCOT. I didn’t know the spelling was different. I prefer it with a “u” over “oo,” the latter is too close to doodle which is mindless drawing in my brain.
I wish the article documented when dude‘s connotation shifted from poseur or hipster to guy, buddy or person/stranger. I’ll go out on a limb with the Fifties via the Beatnik culture. I can’t think of any instance of the word from the early 1900s through the Forties. Maybe it comes and goes in waves because these days it’s use seems a tad archaic; I don’t hear today’s kids/teens say it. I could always be wrong since I’m not exactly mainstream.