The Dude

"Dude..." I freakin' love that word; I use it all the time. For me, and like for many American-raised males (and maybe Canadians), you could probably say that I have a serious fascination with that term. In a linguistic sense, I guess it's simply used to refer to another "guy," "bro," "cat," "fella," "man," etc. (I probably use "man" a bit more and so does Lebowski in the movie). But in a figurative sense, it means so much more. To me, "dude" represents a person we can envy at any point in our stressful lives - something that truly exist in our minds more so than legitimately measurable on the outside. When I say it, it becomes a manifestation of coolness - you know, the calm and collective type that exists comically but not so much as a badass. This is the type of laid-back attitude that instead of having the mindset of taking on the world, he just lets it come on by and laughs things off. Maybe that's why Walter was so attracted to the Dude, simply because he abides so much that it just balances those personalities out. In a way, me calling someone a dude is a sign of respect. So, I officially love the Dude because I am one! And yes, I believe (in the way I've used and observed it at least) that the term only goes for fellow males so I guess someone else can give a feminist spin in their respective blog if they choose to.