The introduction of the word “Dude” in 1883 solved one linguistic problem and created a new one. It provided a word to describe society "swells," the frivolous, idle sons of Gilded Age millionaires who affected an English accent and wore a monocle, a short overcoat over a long jacket, tight trousers, pointy shoes and sucked the silver tips of their canes; but created the need for a new word to refer to the frivolous, idle daughters of Gilded Age millionaires.
“Female Dude” and “Lady Dude” were useful, but not very expressive.
The female dude is running to the Langtry style. Hat and dress are of the same material. Her bonnet is small with na oblong plaited crown, surrounded by a turban-like roll. No ornaments are worn to adorn it. Her hair is wrn a la Circassian, standing straight out in front and on the top, the back being gathered in a careless twist, with a strand or two hanging as if it had escpaped from the hair pin. Her dress is covered by a tight fitting coat that is trimmed with velvet and braid a la militare. Patent leather shoes peep out from the lower borders of her coat, and a stand-up collar keeps the head as straight as a vise. When two dudes meet each bend forward the whole body, they cannot bend in the middle, and just as you expect to see them fall on their faces they recover themselves by an effort painful to see.
“Fine aft,” says the lady dude.
“Very find aft,” replies the male dude.
Then both smile so that it wrinkles the paint on their faces, they think of this, check themselves and look like a couple of chattering apes.
“New York Notes,” The Kansas City Times, April 8, 1883, page 9.
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| Lillie Langtry. |
Several competing suggestions emerged, with “Dudess,” “Dudine,” “Dudette” and “Dudelet” each having their day.
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| Puck's Dude Champion - "But she her gum doth chew. . ." |
The Feminine Dude.
Dear Editor of the P.-D.,
You omniscient young man,
A favor, I beseech you,
Please grant it, if you can.
You have written up the Dude,
Pictured his hair and style;
Now won’t you please “let up on him,”
Change the subject for a while.
Give us his female counterpart,
Her peccadilloes show
Up in your witty paper,
That never is called slow.
He sucks his cane, ‘tis true,
As he struts along the pave;
But she her gum doth chew,
Not much better does behave.
With mincing gait she struts along,
Tho’ no business has she there;
She only walks upon the pave
To make the people stare.
Of knowledge her pate is empty,
No time has she to fill;
And if she had, with some to spare,
She’d never have the will.
Is my favor a conundrum?
No, wurely, you can guess
And understand my wisehes for
A new word – e’en “Dudess.”
Annie.
St. Louis Post-Dispatch, March 23, 1883, page 4.
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| A visual pun. A “dudeen” (as opposed to “Dudine) is the name of a small, Irish clay pipe. |
The “dudine” is the feminine equivalent of the “dude.” She is a daisy.
The News and Observer (Raleigh, North Carolina), April 13, 1883, page 4.
The dudine has arrived. She is the feminine dude. Smokes cigarettes and wears a single eye-glass.
Fort Wayne Daily Gazette, April 22, 1883, page 8.
The dudine is the feminine dude. It wears a mashed gooseberry colored hat, a high collar, and its clothes are made to fit tight. It carries a sharp-pointed parasol in lieu of the dude’s cane, and its street pet is an English pub.
Weekly Mercury (Oroville, California), July 13, 1883, page 5.
THE DUDE AND DUDELET.
To an Old Air.
I.
A Dude and Dudelet on the beach,
Upon the beach so sandy,
The Dude, he wooed; the Dudelet cooed,
And nibbled Maillard’s candy.
Lanky Dude and Dudelet dear,
Lanky Dudy dandy.
II.
He always knew the proper thing
In ties, cigars, and brandy,
And wore his trousers very tight,
Which made his legs look bandy.
Lanky Dude and Dudelet dear,
Lanky Dudy dandy.
III.
The Dudelet was in perfect form,
Her slender waist so handy –
She said she’s be his little Maud,
He said he’d be her Andy.
Lanky Dude and Dudelet dear,
Lanky Dudy dandy.
IV.
And so they were in wedlock bound
With graceful toasts post-prandi-
al. She She is still a Dudelet dear,
Correct, exclusive, and he
Remains a lanky Dude, I fear,
A lanky Dudy dandy.
The Harvard Lampoon, Series II, Volume 5, Number 5, April 20, 1883, page 42.
A more academic approach to the question (surprisingly, perhaps, not from Harvard), questioned the suggestion of “Dudette” as imprecise and misleading.
Dudette vs Dudess.
Ed. Astorian:
Speaking of dudes we wish to say a few words on the subject, not on the dudes but on the word, the name. Now if the new outgrowth from slangdom is to be admitted into the King’s English upon an equal footing with other common nouns let us settle upon some decent termination which will make it applicable to the fair sex, for it would be absurd to say that there are no female dudes, for you may perhaps have noticed that a lady writing to the Catahoochee Gyraffe to inquire what is the feminine of dude, to which the editor very complacently answers dudette.
Now where did that learned dictator get his knowledge? Ancient history is silent on the subject; science it seems has not grappled with it, orthoepists have eschewed it, and unless he can produce something better than his mere dictum we are going to rebel; we object to the “ette,” for many reasons; first, we have too many etts altogether; second, “ette” is not the proper thing, it is not only arbitrary but, a perversion of the sense of the suffix, which being a diminutive cannot be bulldosed into a simple expression of gender. Now, we might call it Dudee or Doodledoo for that matter, but we have a terminal already in use which is euphonious, graceful and proper and as we believe in the survival of the fittest, we contend for its application in this case.
Dudette indeed! Now suppose the fair dudess should be a two hundred pounder wouldn’t she be a petite Dudette, and when the ladies come to talk of Miss Antonette being a brunette wearing a rosette and smoking the fragrant cigarette being a dudette wouldn’t the repetition be monotonous? Well, allow us to just blandly whisper that it would.
Now as the ladies have been, as they have a perfect right to be, the first to inquire into this matter, we think they will agree with us that dudess is the proper and the only proper feminine for dude. We have princess, empress, actress, doctress, and so on, and why not dudess.
In conclusion, Mr. Editor, allow us to hope that the press, the great promoter and director of thought, the great laboratory of public opinion, will earnestly, and persistently sit down on the dudette, that is, on the term, the name, you know.
A Subscriber.
The Morning Astorian (Astoria, Oregon), June 2, 1883, page 3.
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| Currier & Ives, 1883. |
But don’t kid yourself; it might still be dangerous even if you did use the preferred terminology.
An Editor Cowhided.
Bloomington, Illl, July 21. – The Rev. H. O. Hoffman, editor of the Independent, was today cowhided by Mrs. Pritchard, the woman who was recently the housekeeper for Thomas Ashley and cuased a separation between Ashley and his wife. Last evening the Independent called Mrs. Pritchard a “dudes.” Hoffman was badly cut about the face by the whip.
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, July 23, 1883, page 1.
It was all a mite confusing and difficult to keep straight.
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| Puck's Dude Champion - "My powdered pearl, my gilded girl . . ." |
DUDINETTE.
A Dude.
Ah! ma belle dudeen,
Dudie, dudesse, dudette;
My bang-browed queen, my own dudeen,
My coaching club coquette.
Look down on me, thy duteous dude,
My beauteous belle, look down,
Thy servant, slave, in any mood,
In they “mashed strawberry” gown.
And patent-waved – they poodle shaved –
Thou’rt the toniest girl in town.
My powdered pearl, my gilded girl,
Fair dudinette, look down.
The Wheeling Daily Intelligencer, June 13, 1883, page 3.
But if a “Dudess” acts like a regular “Dude” (for example by pursuing actresses as a regular “Dude” was wont to do), then why not just call her a “Feminine Dude.”
Feminine Dudes in Washington.
(Washington Letter in Boston Traveller).
If there is any kink or wrinkle in the line of fashionable hobbies which has not reached Washington, the society young ladies would like to have it passed this way. This year it is the proper thing for one young lade to be desperately in love with another. She may have a young man – and most of them do – but unless she id desperately in love with one of her own sex she can rest assured that she is not en regle.
This craze is being carried to a ridiculous extent here. Those of us who have been watching its rapid growth have been intensely amused at the extremely practical manner in which some of the young ladies go about it.
It must not be supposed that because fashion’s whim commands a young lady to rave about some other young lady’s beauty, and to drip all manner of literary treacle over thye object of her alleged desires, that it is at all necessary that her “mash” should be one of her own circle of friends. The shrewd girl will never permit herself to be caught in such a flimsy trap as that. She must admire something feminine, and so she looks about her and usually settles down upon some actress.
Rhea Jeannie Winston and Verona Jarbeau are the three favorites. All three of them are deluged with flowers and perfumed notes every time they come to town. Not long ago Miss Winston stopped for about two hours in Washington on her way North. A delegation of young ladies met her at the depot and entertained this feminine Bunthorne during her stay. Quite recently Jarbeau played in the “Mikado” at one of our theaters. Two young ladies at once became desperately smitten. They called and were cordially received. Jarbeau told them all manner of pretty things about herself, her origin and her history. They were enraptured, but when the clever little actress innocently told them that she was barely past 20, and that she felt just like a school girl, the young ladies looked at each other a trifle incredulously. Before they left Jarbeau managed to tell them that in case they hired a box at the matinee she would flirt with them from the stage. The girls hired the box and Jarbeau did as she promised.
All of this talk may be sickening to those who have never moved in society at the capital, but it must be confessed that when one looks at the average brainless dude who is supposed to entertain the young lady he does not wonder at the fact that the girls are falling in love one with another.
The Daily Examiner (San Francisco), March 7, 1886, page 2.
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| Verona Jarbeau, pursued by Washington Dudesses. |
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| Dude looks like a lady. Puck, Volume 14, Number 359, January 23, 1884, page 323. |
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