For some time now , we have hump the basic precis of the story of “ dude . ” The Bible was first used in the late 1800s as a term of scoff for young men who were too interested with stay fresh up with the late manner . It later come to stand for clueless city folk ( who go to dude ranch ) before it morphed into our all - purpose lay - back label for a hombre . What we did n’t have intercourse was why the word dude was chosen in the first station .
Now , we finally have the answer . In 2013 , Allan Metcalf ( whowrote the book on “ okay ” ) said inThe Chronicle of Higher Educationthat a monumental , decade - long “ dude ” research project has finally yielded convincing resolution .
The labor belong to Barry Popik and Gerald Cohen , described by Metcalf as “ googlers before there was Google . ” Along with the help of other colleagues , they have been combing through nineteenth century periodicals for years , slowly collect the world ’s grownup assembling of fop citations . The latest outcome of Cohen ’s daybook , Comments on Etymology , put down out , in 129 pages , the most solidly plump for account yet of the early 24-hour interval of fellow .
So where does dude get along from ? Evidence point to “ doodle , ” as in “ Yankee Doodle Dandy . ” He ’s the fellow who , as the song has it , “ hold fast a plumage in his cap and called it macaroni . ” “ Macaroni ” became a full term for a dandy in the eighteenth century after young British men returned from their escapade on the European continent sporting exaggerated high - fashion apparel and mannerisms ( along with a taste for an exotic Italian dish phone “ macaroni ” ) . The good a rough , artless colonist could do if he wanted to copy them was cleave a plume in his hood .
“ For some reason , ” Metcalf say , “ early on in 1883 , this inspired someone to call foppish unseasoned men of New York City ‘ doods , ’ with the substitute spelling ‘ dandy ’ shortly becoming the norm . ” Some of the other mocking descriptions of these dude seem awfully conversant today : “ A faint mustache , a butt , a thirteen clit singlet / A curled rim hat — a minaret — two watch Chain cross the breast . ” Yep , sound like a hippy . But that word has bewilder so dusty . We should all go back to “ dood , ” or maybe even “ doodle . ”
See the articlefor some merriment 1883 description of swell .
