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We Say ‘Dude’ In These Here Parts

Kernut the Blond Posted on by

There's a magazine about this?

I’m fascinated by linguistics, especially the colloquialisms specific to a certain region. We all have them, and those little words can give an indication of where you grew up, or lived for many years.

Also when you grew up.

A friend is visiting from Minnesota. He’s never been to California so I’m showing him the sights. The other day I used the word ‘dude’ when relaying some meaningless important story to him.

Yes, maybe I’m a hopelessly outdated Californian, but that’s not the point.

He’s been here three weeks and I’m the first person who’s said ‘dude’ to him. WTF?

Ok, maybe that is the point.

Crap, I am hopelessly outdated. I had no idea I was that far behind the times.

Apparently they never say dude in Minnesota. They didn’t think we really did, either.

Oh.

He was so surprised to hear the word ‘dude’ that he actually stopped me in the middle of my awesome story y’all to say, “You just said ‘dude’!”

Me: *blink blink*  (In my head, “And your point is..?”)

Him: “When joking around with my friends before I left Minnesota, I told them I was going to hear people in California say things like, ‘Surf’s up, dude’! I didn’t think I would actually hear it!” *laughs*

Me: “Uhhh…”

Really, how do you answer that?



Do Californians come across as stoned surfers in Hollywood depictions??? Apparently we do.

Fuckin’ Hollywood strikes again.

Great. Just great. Yet another stereo-type I’m perpetuating. *sigh* You can take the pot out of the girl, but you can’t take the stoner out. Apparently.

And I just totally confirmed that label for us all. Sorry, California.

Like ‘dude’, we also say ‘hecka’ and ‘hella’. These nightmares of ebonics useful words are specific to northern California. There’s even a Facebook page to establish ‘Hella’ as the SI Prefix for 10^27. That’s 10 to the 27th power.

Used in a sentence: Duuude, that’s a hella lot of numbers.*takes a hit off a joint* *cough, cough*

I also say y’all.

I’ve never lived in the south. I don’t know why I say it. I just feel ‘southern’, ok? Like a demure southern belle. HA (If you know me, you’re rolling your eyes. If you don’t know what I mean, see this NSFW post to remove all doubt.)

A female blogger in Texas, Dru, recently posted about being called “Bro”. She didn’t care for it. At all. I can see how, since she’s a girl. In California, “Bro” was (as in past tense, ’cause it’s outdated) used as a friendly greeting from one guy to another, “Hey Bro, what’s up?”

But in Texas it has a very different meaning. To quote Dru, ‘…“Bro” is a mildly rude way of categorizing someone as a no-brain jock/failure at life.’

Holy Hell, I’d be pissed, too.

Most of you have probably seen the movie Fargo. Awesome movie, go get it if you haven’t seen it. Another friend, who happens to be from North Dakota, considers this movie to be slightly derogatory towards North Dakotans. This movie is full of local sayings. You betcha.

Minnesota is right next to North Dakota, doncha know. Ya, sure.

I could not make this up.

So, in doing many hours minutes of research for this post, you know, to BE INFORMATIVE for y’all, I found this gem of a colloquialism attributed to, I kid you not, English speakers: “cold enough to freeze the balls off (or on) a brass monkey”. Complete with this picture of a brass monkey. With brass balls, y’all! At an Australian Post Office! I just fell in love with all of Australia.

Gosh, we ‘English speakers’ are linguistic geniuses, aren’t we?!

I’m sure I’ve never made any reference to brass balls and such – er, uh, before now. Ok, well maybe a loooong time ago. Like when I wrote my About page a few months back. That’s a long time. No? Ok, then think about it in these terms: You haven’t “gotten any” in three months. See, now three months seems like a long time.

And NO, despite what you may have heard, I do not have a pair of brass balls on a key chain.

They’re from an old watch fob. I swear.

So now I’ve just confirmed what Minnesotans previously considered a fabricated Hollywood depiction of stoned surfer-dude Californians. My friend is going to go back home to tell his friends in Minnesota how true it all is. Then all of Minnesota, and then the world, will know we’re all stoned surfer ‘dudes’ out here in California.

We’re so screwed. (Is ‘screwed’ a local colloquialism, too?! Fuck. Oh GREAT. What about ‘fuck’? Where the fuck is fuck from?)

Dude, I give up.

Comments

We Say ‘Dude’ In These Here Parts — 21 Comments

  2. Ha. I grew up in California (during the valley girl era of the mid 80’s) I moved to Minnesota for High School – Dude, that really messed with my head. Teachers in Minnesota did not appreciate being referred to as Dude. The biggest issue was soda. In Minnesota they say “pop.” At lunch I asked “Is there somewhere I can get a soda” Everyone at the table turned, and one kid looks at me and says “You want club soda?”

  6. So, of course I own y’all, goes without saying. Other than that, I totally stray from the local colloquialisms, well, because they make you sound like an uneducated monkey. Kentucky shouldn’t be indigenous to monkeys, however, the further you stray from Louisville, Lexington or Bowling Green, the more you realize it actually is, in fact, populated by semi-trained monkeys and Manbeasts. Le’sigh.
    .-= Wicked Shawn´s last blog ..I’ve Never Shot A Moose, But If Bullwinkle Really Pisses Me Off…. =-.

  7. OMG! The last person I heard use the term Dude was in the early 80s — a complete idiot — university prof, of course (in eastern Washington state). He used both “Dude” and “Dude-ess” and thought he was hilarious. Ah yes, brings back memories (bad ones)!

  8. Patty: I was born on the east coast, and my parents are both ex-New Yorkers. I know all about ‘takin’ the daaawg for a waaak’. The ‘you’s’ do sound so “Sopranos” to me! LOL I love your recent post, by the way! Very funny, and insightful.

    Sue: I forgot about pop vs. soda! There’s another one I still get called on: swap meet vs. flea market.

    Jeff: You’re welcome. 🙂

    Alone: America is weird, and awesome in its weirdness. I’ve used it as an exclamation and in describing someone, ‘That dude is amazing!’ That’s the one that caught my friend off guard.

    Jeane: Ah, yes… ‘awesome’ is another of my favorites! And using ‘like’ in sentences where it doesn’t need to be! LOL I do that like a lot. 🙂

    Wicked: OMG – that must be where the saying ‘freeze the balls off a brass monkey comes from’! LOL

    M: Here I’ve heard people use “Dudette” when referring to a female. I’m sure you must have heard me use dude – I say it way (there’s another one! LOL) too much.

  9. No, I don’t recall your ever saying Dude — maybe I’ve just blocked it! Noooo!

  10. I use y’all because it seems to fit so well when referring to a group. I picked it up when I went to tech school at NAS Memphis when I was in the Navy. In my wilder days when I got a bit “happy” my accent would change from a Californian to Southern. It got thicker the “happier” I got. I had shipmates who thought I was from the south. I guess they only saw me “happy”!

  11. I still occasionally say things like dude, gnarly, rad, bitchin’. I know it dates me, and it’s stupidly out of place in Montana, but I like the irony.

  12. John: When you say ‘they only saw me ‘happy” do you mean drunk or horny? 😉 When my parents get angry they’re “New Yorker” comes out.

    Penny: Since writing this, and spending more time with my friend from Meeneesoota, I’m continually finding more and more phrases in my speech, all apparently specific to Cali. For instance when describing the coastal weather yesterday I kept saying “socked in”… He finally asked what it meant. I thought that one was national.

  13. Dude!!! Bro is back. I’ve even been hearing kids say it lately.
    I’m about as Californian as it gets, ‘cept I don’t surf. lol
    That’s all I have to say about that.
    Later Dudes!! (and Dudettes)

  14. “Socked in” — that’s funny. Yeah, that’s gotta be a coastal thing.

  15. Todd: ‘Bro’ is back? huh. I don’t surf either. My sister does it for both of us.

    “Penny”: Oh no. I really thought that was national. Here are a couple more: boardwalk vs. pier (or wharf), outhouse vs. porta-potty.

    • Dru – Oh no, from England to Texas? I can see how that would be a bit of a culture shock. California would be the same… probably worse. We’re heavy into the “My bad” (although that one is fading out along with bro) and the “I know, right?”. That one is still in heavy use.

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  18. Dude, this post is freek’n rad! I am so screwed because I still use a lot of those words/ phrases.
    Funny thing is I pick up slang from my friends that are of other ethnicities and cultures. Once at a poker game I said “Oooh, that’s gravy baby,” and my African American friend was like “Jeff, is you black?” LOL
    And a friend of mine from Minn would say stuff like “smokin’s for sucks (suckers I guess)”. Back then he’d always ask if I had Bushmills and water or want to make Brass monkeys (captains and vodka and sprite) lol!
    Anyways, totally sweeeet post! You rock!

    • Duuude, you rock! 😉 You used “like” just like a “Valley” would. hehehe

      Just yesterday when I was writing a post, I used a local colloquialism (can’t remember which), and wondered what my foreign readers would think of it, if they would understand the usage.

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