Dude, you’ve got to read this. A linguist from the University of Pittsburgh has published a scholarly paper deconstructing and deciphering the word “dude,” contending it is much more than a catchall for lazy, inarticulate surfers, skaters, slackers and teenagers…. Kiesling says in the fall edition of American Speech that the word derives its power from something he calls cool solidarity – an effortless kinship that’s not too intimate. —Mike Crissey —Linguist Deciphers Uses of Word ‘Dude’ (AP)

I do wish articles like this, that summarize scholarly publications, would give the full citation information, or at least the URL of the journal’s home page.