Maaaan - Tumblr Posts
I did not grow up in Cali but in Colorado and I think of "dude" in this way also. Same with "man" and "bro/bruh". These three words are almost interchangeable, though "man" and "bruh" are more exclamatory. "Dude" is a very all purposes kind of word and I have to consciously stop and edit when I type to remove it heh. I only make any effort to censor its use around people I know who are trans women or starting a nonbinary transition just to be on the safe side. Had someone call me "girl" in a neutral way, like the way it's used in slang these days, but it was a bad day and I was surprised at how viscerally awful that felt. Angry at the gendering of "dude" though, that word should be for everyone!
I get why non-californians aren't comfortable with being called "dude" but it really is a gender neutral term here. I call my mom dude. Elderly waitresses are dudes. Small insects I notice throughout my day are dudes. Kitchen utensils I cannot find are dudes.