Dude

I love the word dude. Not sure if it is because I watched "Fasttimes at Ridgemont High" once to often or if the word dude came into the world's vernacular during an influential time of my life, the 80's. The reason I mention it is because the word dude is now being used quite regularly by my daughter. "The Dudes" are her guy friends at school. "DUDE!" is as close to a swear word as she will used when angry at her brother. "Aww dude..." is for the dogs when they annoy her or have chewed on her favorite shoe. "The Fish Dude" is the largest of the four fish in her tank. "The Scooter Dudes" are our friends whom my husband works on scooters with. For her, Dude is the chosen word for a multitude of purposes. Strangely, due to her constant usage, I have started using the word more often too. I've always loved the word but as I grew older it wasn't used as much. Now I find myself using dude almost everyday. Sadly, though, I'm afraid it might make me look a tad stupid.

I have volunteered to work at my son's high school concession stand during basketball games. The band boosters run it and get all the profits. I feel its my duty to help out. There are usually 5-6 other parents working at a time. As I was working last night I accidentally spilled a bag of popcorn on the floor. As I did this I said "DUDE!" and started laughing at my own clumsiness. As I looked around for the broom, two of the Mom's were staring at me. Looking down her nose at me, one of them said "Dude? What are you a skater kid?" A. No, but whats wrong with skater kids and B. Shut the F up. No I didn't say those things but I wish I would have. Apparently when a cute 12 yr old girl says dude, its adorable but when her 38 yr old mother says it...not so much.

So I guess I have a choice. I can stop saying dude and replace it with 'gosh darn' or something equally vanilla which fits my personality so well (not) or I can just ignore snotty parents who've forgotten all humor in their lives. I opt for the latter.

ps...I also love the words persnickety, cantankerous and snollygoster. I plan on using those as frequently as possible from now on too. :-)