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Wednesday, Jul 02, 2003
hey, little dudelers
"Little did I know that I was witnessing a phenomenon that was, in fact, a hot topic among lexicographers and linguists, according to my friend Jesse Sheidlower, the astute North American editor of the Oxford English Dictionary: the sexual transmigration of "dude." Where once "dude" had applied mainly—only—to men, "there’s a lot of discussion now," Jesse said, among his colleagues in the word-study business, over this issue: whether "dude" (in a descriptive rather than prescriptive sense) could now generally be said to apply to both men and women. (The way "babe" has crossed over from the other direction, you might say.)"