Scott F. Kiesling, writing in the journal American Speech:
The patterns of use for the address term dude are outlined, as are its functions and meanings in interaction. Explanations are provided for its rise in use, particularly among young men, in the early 1980s, and for its continued popularity since then.
Dude.
Nah nah, for real dude, this paper ain’t a joke — it’s actually quite illuminating as to why we use “dude” and tackles some fascinating sociological / anthropological issues in the process. One of my favorite bits, from the discussion section towards the end:
In perhaps the most well-known scenes in Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982), a conflict is set up between Spicoli and his history teacher, Mr. Hand. In the first scene Spicoli is late on the first day of class, and in the second he has a pizza delivered to class. Mr. Hand is represented as a demanding, uptight teacher who takes stances that could hardly be further from those Spicoli adopts. Mr. Hand, of course, becomes outraged that Spicoli does not even seem to realize his behavior is unacceptable. From the eyes of a 1980s teenager, the conflict between Spicoli and Mr. Hand is an allegory for competing norms of masculinity and shows how the stances associated with dude are set up in conflict with stances of hard work and other “adult” values. The “slackers” in the film Clerks (1994) are also the opposite of Edley and Wetherell’s “hard, aggressive person single-mindedly driven by the desire for power and status,” but in Clerks, the fun-loving of Spicoli has been replaced by nihilism: more “why bother?” than “who cares?”
Seriously dude, recommended reading.
(Since the link to the actual paper is hard to find, here’s a direct link.)