transcriptScreenshot of a tweet by @feralhousepuppy: hey so you've been calling me "bro", "man", and "dude" a lot and it's really invalidating to my masculinity cause those are all gender neutral things you call trans women :/

Screenshot of a tweet by @feralhousepuppy: hey so you've been calling me "bro", "man", and "dude" a lot and it's really invalidating to my masculinity cause those are all gender neutral things you call trans women :/
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[–] 20 points 1 week ago (5 children)

"dude" always felt gender neutral to me (though do note English is my fourth language...).

And if you look at the etymology of the word, gender neutrality makes some sense.

It started out as slang in the late 1800s mocking "hyper-fashionable young urban men".

Then the early 20th century it transformed to describe tourists from the East Coast on the Western side of the country (see "dude ranches").

And then in the 60-70s it transformed thanks to surfer slang, back to being male oriented.

I'd say if you're uncomfortable with the "dude" form of the term... use "dood" instead. Or even "d00d" if you're feeling l33t h4xx0r.

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  • [–] 12 points 1 week ago (2 children)

    So in your examples, it went from making fun of a type of men, to referring to the overwhelmingly-male owners of hobby ranches, to referring to male surfers.

    When exactly was it ever gender neutral?

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  • [–] 15 points 1 week ago

    No...

    You got the second part wrong. It wasn't the "overwhelmingly male owners of hobby ranches" that were called dudes, but, if you read my comment again, you'll notice I specifically said the UNGENDERED tourists hailing from the east coast - primarily city folk - visiting rural western areas, ranches.

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