"Dude."

A linguist studies the word "dude."

To decode the word's meaning, Kiesling listened to conversations with fraternity members he taped in 1993. He also had undergraduate students in sociolinguistics classes in 2001 and 2002 write down the first 20 times they heard "dude" and who said it during a three-day period.

Some fields of research just seem a whole lot easier than others. But who knows? Maybe you start off analyzing the detail to the meaning of one word. ("It's like man or buddy, there is often this male-male addressed term that says, 'I'm your friend but not much more than your friend.") But then it leads you into insights about all sorts of sociological and psychological phenomena. ("He found the word taps into nonconformity and a new American image of leisurely success.") Well, you decide.

Here's the history of the word:

Historically, dude originally meant "old rags" -- a "dudesman" was a scarecrow. In the late 1800s, a "dude" was akin to a "dandy," a meticulously dressed man, especially out West. It became "cool" in the 1930s and 1940s, according to Kiesling. Dude began its rise in the teenage lexicon with the 1981 movie "Fast Times at Ridgemont High."

How can you talk about "dude" and movies and not include "The Big Lebowski"?

Anyway, there's a nice special edition DVD of "Fast Times at Ridgemont High" for only $14.99, featuring commentary by director Amy Heckerling and writer Cameron Crowe and a "Reliving our Fast Times at Ridgemont High" documentary. A nice and cheap Christmas present for the dude on your list. And "The Big Lebowski" is only $11.24 (but no special features). One thing I love about Amazon, by the way, is the information about where a particular item is "uniquely popular." "The Big Lebowski" is currently number 1 on the Amherst, Massachusetts list.

Oh, and as long as I'm giving shopping tips related to "The Big Lebowski," let me add that I love the soundtrack from that movie, which is worth buying on CD, and I especially love the way the Bob Dylan song "The Man in Me" is used in that movie. Rereading the lyrics to that song, maybe you can find something of an explanation for Dylan's taciturn turn on "60 Minutes" the other night:

The man in me will hide sometimes to keep from bein' seen,
But that's just because he doesn't want to turn into some machine.

All right. Enough free-associating. I've got some exam writing to do and a million loose ends to tie up.

UPDATE: I take a pause in the tying up of loose ends to check my email and learn from a reader that the dude linguist looks exactly like Calvin's dad.

ANOTHER UPDATE: Another emailing dude writes:

I ... saw the discussion on the word "dude," but noticed that you omitted "Baseketball" from your list of films. If you are not familiar with this movie, and its relevance, there is an exchange (approximately 20-30 seconds in length) between the two main characters where the only word spoken (repeatedly, with varied inflection and tone) is "dude."

And "Baseketball" is only $11.24, so for $37.47, you can give a great 3 DVD dude-themed gift.

YET ANOTHER UPDATE: Metafilter is discussing the dude research. Oh, and this Dylan song is my favorite song with the wold "dude" in it.

EVEN MORE: Let me just say there's also "Dude, Where's My Car?" so you won't feel you need to email me about it. And another great song with "dude" (used maybe too cleverly) is "Heroes and Villains." ("But she’s still dancing in the night/Unafraid of what a dude’ll do in a town full of heroes and villains.")