dude!

[arethinn]

esmestrella says:
that's a pretty odd language construction, when you think about it.
"to weird out"
crazy californian english.
"to weird out". "moded". "dude" used as all parts of speech.
surfers + valley girls = MASS LEXICON HYSTERIA! CATS AND DOGS LIVING TOGETHER!
"moded" is so impossible to explain
it's so idiosyncratic and situational
one of those "you know the feeling when.." and you have to use like a whole paragraph to describe an emotion, which everyone knows what it's like, but actually talking about it fails
"if you have to ask, you'll never know"
to demonstrate the understanding we all have:

lunylucy: *posts hilarious parody icon of dumbles shouting all ooc "DID YOU PUT YOUR NAME IN THAT GOBLET OF FIRE???*
me: DUDE!
lunylucy: DUUUDE!
me: This concludes the test of the emergency Californian language system.
lunylucy: It, like, totally hella does.

enotsola says:
LOL
silly californias

esmestrella says:
you love us.

enotsola says:
here I thought moving to the US, I'd already know the language.. but.. I'm gonna have to become bilingual after all

esmestrella says:
you can already get by in Dude.
you know enough to say "dude, where's the bathroom?" and "how do I get to the hotel, dude?" and "I think, dude, that I'll have the chicken fingers."

Comments

[venturous1.livejournal.com]

"moded" is so impossible to explain

it's so idiosyncratic and situational
one of those "you know the feeling when.." and you have to use like a whole paragraph to describe an emotion, which everyone knows what it's like, but actually talking about it fails

is this the definition of 'moded'?

Easterner studying netspeak etc wonders about derivation.

[arethinn]

No, that's the category of term "moded" (which is not always spelled that way) falls into. "Moded" is something you say to someone who was caught doing something they shouldn't be doing, or when they were beaten in an argument.

For example, if you had been told not to play on a certain piece of playground equipment, did it anyway, and a teacher caught you doing it, the other kids (who had been standing around watching, possibly, but you can also use it if you only heard about it after the fact) would say "oooo! moded!" It's usually drawn out, moooooa-dehhhhhd, and said with a rising tone.

I grew up with this word and know exactly what it means and when it would be used. But see how much explanation I have to go into?

As far as its derivation, someone submitted to Urban Dictionary that it comes from 80s hip-hop street slang, and that may be, I don't know. (In the 80s I was in elementary school. Perhaps some of the kids had older siblings who were into hip-hop.) In my experience adults don't use the word, except ironically; it faded out of my actual use somewhere around junior high school. And that still doesn't tell you anything about its actual etymology.

Suffice it to say that California slang is a weird critter. ^_-