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“Hey Ryan, dude, do you know what I just found out? I mean, of course you don’t know, because I haven’t actually told you yet. Or maybe you do know, but you can’t really say ‘yes’ anyway, because you don’t know what it is you presumably do not know, until I actually tell you. You know.”
Ryan smirks as he continues to fold wife-beaters and put them in the drawer.
“No matter what I say, you’re gonna tell me anyway.”
Seth seems to contemplate this for about half a second.
“That is true. So you know what, now I’m gonna say it.”
He flops down on Ryan’s bed. “It’s ‘dude’. I just found out that the ‘dude’ has a history.”
Ryan frowns over his pile of clean laundry.
“What dude?”
“Dude, the word. Like, you know, ‘hey dude’, or ‘dude, what’s the time?’ 'Dude’. There’s a story behind it. The ‘dude’, like old European kings, or KFC, or my mom and Jimmy Cooper, has a history. And I just found out about it.”
“That’s amazing Seth. Really fascinating.”
“Oh you can go all Mr Sarcasm on me, but it won’t work, because guess what? I’m all hot for this dude-thing.”
Their eyes meet for a moment, Seth looking horrified and Ryan very much amused.
“No! Not in the minty way! I just mean, I liked the story behind the ‘dude’!”
“Whatever man. So tell me.”
Ryan moves the now empty laundry-basket to the door, and sits down next to Seth on the bed.
“Okay, so you know Oscar Wilde? Dorian Gray and Reading Jail but with weird old spelling?” – Ryan nods – “He invented ‘dude’. As well as some of the best aphorisms I’ve ever read. ‘The public is wonderfully tolerant - it forgives everything except genius,’ amongst many many more. And he also invented the greatest word ever invented. Even better than ‘marinate‘. And that is one hell of a word.”
Ryan nods. Seth goes on.
“So it’s basically a combination of ‘dud’ and ‘attitude’. Like, like ‘atti-duuude’. But without the ‘atti-’, obviously. Just dude. It’s short, it’s edgy, it’s brilliant. When you say dude, you do not only attract attention from said dude. You also call them something, even two somethings! ‘Dud’, as in useless, a washout, and ‘attitude’, like ‘what’s your problem, dude?’ and oh my god, there it is again. Sneaking in to my ramble about said word! It's amazing Ryan, just amazing.”
“Seth, does this ramble end anytime soon?”
“Soon Ryan, soon. Dude, have some patience. Dude. Duuude. Hah! It’s everywhere! Anyway, so when I say ‘dude, we’re gonna be late for school’, what I’m actually saying is ‘hey you rebel, quit that tough guy-act and do something useful, like drive me to the place of learning’!”
Ryan looks at Seth. Seth looks back. And the silence is stretched out to its very limit.
“So, your point is…?” Ryan eventually asks.
“…dude is one hell of a word?”
Ryan sighs, but it’s a happy sigh; a sigh overshadowed by the smile that is pulling at his dimples. He leans over and kisses Seth. Then he mumbles into the Jewfro.
“My Oscar Wilde favorite is ‘It isn’t weakness that yields to temptation. There are terrible temptations which it requires strength and courage to yield to.’”
Seth keeps his eyes closed, but a big grin is plastered on his face.
“Yeah dude. That’s a good one.”