Date: 3 Oct 2001 20:55:00 GMT From: Michael Hoye Newsgroups: rec.arts.sf.written.robert-jordan Subject: Re: A little happiness for me In article , Duncan J Macdonald wrote: >In article , Mark Loy said... > >> Mark "who now expects to be called 'dude' by every fuckin' one of you >> bastards" Loy > >Dude. After listening to comp-sci prof talk for three hours about context-free languages, it crossed my mind that the word "Dude" has transcended actual "word" status to become just the opposite - language-free context. That is to say that nowadays "Dude" is now a meaningless syllable; we just choose to use that word to hang a certain emotional meaning on, by tone and inflection. I've seen it used for sympathy, regret, contempt, you name it. Just about the entire emotional range can be expressed by proper inflection of the word "Dude". "My wife wants me to buy a minivan." "Dude..." (I'm sorry, buddy. That's rough.) "I spent the weekend tuning it up. It'll do 0-60 in under four, now." "Dude." (That's impressive. I respect that.) "Dude." (Hi.) "Dude." (Hey, 'sup?) (alternatively, "I don't remember your name either.") ...and no shortage of others. -- Mike Hoye