Dude, what's in a word?

An American linguist has caused a minor kerfuffle among etymologists and philologists by deconstructing the word 'dude' in a research paper.

A popular slang, 'dude,' according to University of Pittsburg researcher Scott Kiesling, denotes a cool solidarity - "an effortless kinship that's not too intimate" - among young American males.

Truly, dudism is rampant in American campuses and youthful social circles. 'Dude' has now joined other trendy American contributions such as nerd, hacker, geek, weirdo and jerk to the English language. Like a widely-used four-letter copulatory expression, also popularized by Americans, dude has many uses.

On occasion, it has also transmogrified into 'dudeski' (a Slavic dude?) :):)
It even made it to a cinema title in the 2000 movie "Dude, where's my car?" The academic interest in the dudism and dudeness, resulting in a solitary paper, is piffle compared to the erudition that has accompanied the abusive, and much-abused, F-word.

In fact, the F-word has occasioned a full book - by a Jesse Sheidlower and titled, naturally, "The F-Word." The Random House title is now in its second edition. It claims to be a complete and thorough scholarly examination of a single word, containing "everything you wanted to know about the English language's most notorious word, but were afraid to ask."

In fact, some people admire the versatility the f-word. It can be used as a verb (active and passive), a noun, an adjective, and even as an interjection or conjunction. Proponents of the word argue that aside its sexual overtones (or undertones), it can also be used to express a variety of emotions like confusion ("What the f-?"), apathy ("Who gives an f-, anyway?"), panic ("Let's get the f- out of here!"), and resignation ("Oh, f- it!")

Among the more recent users of the word is US vice-president Dick Cheney, whose name some wags said is suited for such expression. Another notorious user was Richard "Tricky Dick" Nixon. John F Kerry used it last year in a Rolling Stones interview (his middle initial 'F' though stands for Forbes), asking, "Did I expect George Bush to f--- it up as badly as he did? I don't think anybody did." In India, we probably don't say it much; we just do it. F- things up, that is.
Unlike dude, which is of a relatively recent vintage (19th century - when it meant a scarecrow and later a well-dressed man), the origins of the f-word is shrouded in mystery. The American Heritage dates it back to a 16th century poem and some sources go as far back as the 13th century when a certain nobleman bore the name. But most assuredly, say experts, it is not an acronym for Fornication Under Control of King.

Given such historical antecedents of the f-word, one wonders if 'dude' will have the longevity of its more colourful companion. One suspects the dudes don't give an f- though they are the principle users of the word.