The Brief

For any child of the '80s or '90s, the word "dude" conjures up a specific vibe: a laid-back, California surfer-skater — perhaps drinking a white Russian — unbothered (or maybe unaware) of the pressing concerns of the world around him.

It was also a word that defied specificity — used as a greeting, an agreement, a commiseration or an exclamation.

"Dude" was everywhere.

But it wasn't a new word back then — not even close. By the 1980s, the term "dude" had been around for at least 100 years. In this week's Word of the Week, we explore the long and winding road "dude" took from New York City to the surfers in California.

Where did "dude" come from?

circa 1880: A man being assisted by his servant in the mode of dressing. (Photo by Hulton Archive/Getty Images)

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The exact origin of the word has been difficult for linguists to pin down, but Gerald Cohen, a professor at Missouri University of Science and Technology, published a book on the topic in 2023 with two other language scholars. Cohen says it seems to have been coined in reaction to a particular fad among young men in New York City in the late 19th century. Think hipsters of the 1880s.

"They were young. They were vacuous. They were effeminate — and they were drawing a bit of attention from the humorists and the cartoonists," Cohen told NPR.

He says this crowd had a certain way of dressing — usually over-the-top and fancy — and leaned into an Anglophile lifestyle that was often perceived by many as fake or trying-too-hard.

Eventually, these men became known as "dudes," likely in reference to Yankee Doodle, who, as the old war song goes, was an unsophisticated American who "stuck a feather in his cap" in an attempt to parade as a kind of European "dandy" in high society.

Cohen and his colleagues spent more than 20 years trying to pinpoint the moment that reference was first made, combing over old newspaper archives and pop culture references from the time. They eventually found a poem published in a New York City newspaper titled "The Dude" written by a little-known poet named Robert Sale Hill, where he derides the fad.

Here are the final lines:

America can ill afford

To harbor such deformity,

And we would humbly thank the Lord

To spare us this enormity.

But, Cohen says, the poem had the opposite effect.

"It caused a social craze. All of a sudden 'dude' was appearing all over," he says.

An 1883 article from the New York Times describes a "dudes' picnic" where thousands of young people rushed to a park in Harlem at the promise of seeing men in "full dude dress."

The Dude Ranch

It was that over-the-top style of dress that brought about the term "dude ranch," experts say. In the late 19th century, traveling out West and experiencing cowboy culture was trendy. People — mostly men — would come from East Coast cities like New York to ranches on vacation, often dressed in full cowboy attire, according to Bryce Albright, executive director of the National Dude Ranchers Association, an organization that has been around for almost 100 years.

"It was a very big dress up for those people, because that's not something they owned, you know, before they decided to take this vacation," says Albright. "And so it kind of turned into our trademark."

Horses are prepared for a morning ride at the Dixie Dude Ranch near Bandera, Texas, Oct. 24, 2008.

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Ranches started advertising themselves as "dude ranches" to attract visitors, and the name stuck. So did the attire.

"And even still, you see people show up that have brand new Wranglers, and button pearl snap shirts and fancy boots and cowboy hats that none of us could ever even think of affording. And it's fun to see them get dressed up," she says.

The shift to the everyman  

In the mid-20th century, the term "dude" traveled further across the country, making its way to African American and Mexican American populations, says Scott Kiesling, a linguistics professor at University of Pittsburgh who has also studied the word. The term's rise coincided with the zoot suit — also very flashy and full of fabric — and popular with men of color, he says.

He says originally, it seems they were called "dude" as more of a derogatory term.

Three Jamaican immigrants (left to right) John Hazel, a 21-year-old boxer, Harold Wilmot, 32, and John Richards, a 22-year-old carpenter, arriving at Tilbury on board the ex-troopship 'Empire Windrush', smartly dressed in zoot suits and trilby hats.

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"And then what we think happened — which is what happens in a lot of these kinds of situations —[Mexican American and Black people] adopted it with each other, and it became this marker of solidarity and connection," Kiesling says.

From there, it started to become less associated with fancy dress and more with masculinity, and other subgroups started to pick it up, particularly the surfers and skaters out in California — which is when Hollywood really got a hold of it in the 1980s and 90s.

Now, Kiesling says, the word, which began in reference to young men, has lost a lot of its gender connotation but is still meant to show familiarity with a person. Maybe you don't use it with your boss or a stranger, but with your friends or acquaintances to show that you're in the same group.

And don't be fooled — even with the rise of "bro" (see NPR's Word of the Week here), "dude" still reigns supreme, according to a recent survey Kiesling conducted.

"Dude is still used the most, I think people just don't notice it as much," he says.

Rock on, dude.
Copyright 2025 NPR

You don't have to trudge to an Orange County government office in Santa Ana anymore to get vital records like birth certificates and marriage licenses and even passports: Orange County Clerk-Recorder Hugh Nguyen is bringing the office to you.

The Clerk-Recorder now has an office on wheels — a tricked out van — and is pulling into spots across Orange County to make it easier for residents to get key documents. You can check the website to see when the van wil be near you, and make an appointment.

Nguyen said his office is trying to help people who can't afford to take a day off work or otherwise struggle to get in the door during typical government office hours.

"The van represents a practical shift in how we deliver public services," Nguyen said.

To that end, upcoming, off-hour pop-ups include:

Saturday, Jan. 24: Dedicated to passports, at Magnolia High School in Anaheim, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Details here about how to book an appointment.

Starting Satuday, Feb. 14: Valentine's Day kicks off a series of Saturday hours throughout 2026 for marriages, passports and renewal of vow. Start the process here. (This series of pop-ups is just one example of why Nguyen has been dubbed "Orange County's Master of Love," for his new and inventive ways to help people navigate marriage licenses!)

Saturday, March 28: Dedicated to passports, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Book appointments here.

There's also a "Where's the Clerk-Recorder van today" button to check for updates. You can also make a request to have the van come to your events, school or neighborhood using an online form.

Why it matters

Nguyen said the mobile van has arrived just in time — the clerk-recorder's office has never been busier. The request for birth certificates skyrocketed 36% in 2025 over 2024. He said he attributes the rise in part to the county's population growth and outreach efforts. (If you don't know where your birth certificate is, or your passport has expired, why not get it all squared away now, instead of frantically getting it all done before a big trip.)

He said demand for passports is high, too. The office is the state's first (and so far, only) designated passport acceptance facility, meaning it can accept new passport applications on behalf of the U.S. Department of State. (This office does not handle passport renewal applications — those go directly to the U.S. Department of State.)

The backstory

Nguyen said the office on wheels grew out of need to fill such growing demand for key documents — and the reality that many folks have trouble getting off work or making it down to the current locations in Santa Ana, Laguna Hills and Anaheim.

At one point, there was thought of opening a new office in the western part of the county, such as Garden Grove, to meet demands.

But Nguyen said he did the math and realized that a new office would cost about $1 million a year when calculating in staffing, leasing and more.

The van's price tag? About $200,000.

And he says he expects to have it for years. It only has about 250 miles on it so far after just a few months.

Why do I need the Clerk-Recorder anyway?

Here's a list of the services provided by the county's Clerk-Recorder Office. Basically, this is your go-to place for records, including birth certificates and death certificates, marriage license, fictitious business names, among other many things.

Nguyen likes to say that if you are born in Orange County, live in Orange County, do business in Orange County, or die in Orange County, you (or your family) will eventually need the services of the Clerk-Recorder.

Southern California’s largest gas company wants to shut down all of its branch locations, which could affect how you pay your bill.

SoCalGas has 43 locations across the region where customers can ditch the service hotline and get help with their bills in person. Its offices span from Dinuba (near Fresno) all the way down to the border in El Centro.

The utility asked the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) for permission to close them last year. Now, the state agency wants your input.

Lower use

Chris Gilbride, a spokesperson for the utility, said in a statement the proposal is about adjusting to customer preferences and long-term affordability.

Bill payments make up nearly all transactions at SoCalGas offices, but those have declined significantly over the years, according to the application.

Most customers pay online, call in or go to one of 400 authorized payment locations, like grocery stores, all of which are cheaper to run. SoCalGas says these are reasonably comparable alternatives to the branches.

Those 43 locations cost nearly $19 million to operate in 2024. If the closures are approved, the utility says it’ll return those savings to customers.

How much that could be is unclear. The union representing branch employees, UWUA Local 132, says they were told there might not be any direct savings.

The commission has let other utilities, like Southern California Edison, close their branch offices in the past.

Access concerns

While a majority of customers don’t rely on in-person anymore, there are still some who do.

William Gilbertson, the local’s president and a lead  construction technician at SoCalGas, said that at authorized payment locations, you pay your bill and leave. Branch offices do more, like schedule service and answer questions about your bill.

“[During] Palisade Fire and the Eaton Fire, a lot of people went to our members to ask questions at the branch offices,” he said. “It was kind of like a lifeline for the community.”

He said the union has also heard about difficulties customers have had resolving serious issues in their accounts without an in-person location.

“ You can do [fraud verification] online, but you have to have a fax machine and you have to fill out all the paperwork,” he said. “So it’s kind of tough for someone that isn’t tech savvy to do that.”

Multiple unionized branch employees have written to the CPUC. They’re asking the commission to deny the proposal, saying they want to continue providing a needed service for their customers. Some don’t trust the internet, can’t use the customer service hotline or experience language barriers.

SoCalGas says it’ll work with local faith and community groups to make sure vulnerable people, such as those with low-come or a disability, are aware of the closures and alternate options.

The timing of branch closures would vary since the utility leases some buildings and owns others, but if it’s approved, SoCalGas is generally eyeing a 120-day timeline. Gilbertson expects a decision to come in June.

How to add your voice

Until then, you can add your thoughts anytime to the filing’s docket card.

The CPUC is also having public hearings. What you share at these meetings will be transcribed and put into the formal record so it can inform the agency’s ruling.

The first few will take place in person in L.A. and Orange counties. If you want to give public comment, you’ll sign up at the location’s Public Advisor’s Office table. Another pair of hearings will happen remotely, which take public comment over the phone.

Language interpreters and other accommodation are available if you contact the CPUC’s Public Advisor’s Office with at least five business days’ notice of the given hearing. Here are the dates and times for both formats:

Gov. Gavin Newsom’s budget proposal includes no money for a fund formed last year to boost the state’s local newsrooms, casting doubt on whether a heralded effort to help California journalists will amount to anything and how serious Newsom is about supporting the struggling industry.

It’s a significant walkback from an August 2024 deal between state leaders and Google in which they agreed to jointly spend $175 million over five years to fund local journalism.

The deal, which Newsom hailed as a “major breakthrough in ensuring the survival of newsrooms” at the time, was reached after Google spent a record sum — $11 million — lobbying state lawmakers successfully to drop two proposals that would have forced Google to pay newsrooms for using their content. Under the agreement, the state would pay $70 million and Google $55 million into the newly established California Civic Media Fund for local news outlets. Google would also continue issuing its annual $10 million newsroom grants.

But in May 2025, citing budget restraints, Newsom slashed the state’s first-year commitment to just $10 million for fiscal year 2025-26, with no future state funding guaranteed. Google subsequently said it would match the state’s $10 million investment but no more.

Google was clear in the deal that “its contributions were contingent” on state funding, similar to its journalism funding deal in Canada, said Erin Ivie, spokesperson for Assemblymember Buffy Wicks, an Oakland Democrat who brokered the deal in 2024.

A 2019 study by the trade group News Media Alliance estimated that Google made $4.7 billion from news sites in 2018. Google’s parent company, Alphabet, made over $100 billion in the third quarter of 2025 alone — its “first ever $100 billion quarter,” said Alphabet and Google CEO Sundar Pichai. By Wednesday, Alphabet’s market cap was over $4 trillion.

None of the $20 million pledged has reached local news outlets, drawing disappointment from journalism advocates. The Governor's Office of Business and Economic Development, which administers the funds, has received the money and expects to distribute it this year, said agency spokesperson Willie Rudman.

“At this point right now, nobody should be jumping up and down and getting excited,” California News Publishers Association President Chuck Champion said.

Newsom’s lack of proposed funding for future years angered Champion, who said the governor failed to keep his promise.

“He’s more interested in the billionaires and his friends than he’s interested in journalists who are out on the street,” Champion said. “He talks about democracy, he talks about how critically important it is, and then he allows our journalists to starve on the vine.”

The lack of future commitment from the state also raises the question whether Google will deposit anything into the fund next year. Google News Initiative did not immediately respond to a CalMatters inquiry for comment.

Newsom’s office did not respond to questions about his decision to skip the funding this year, directing CalMatters to the state Department of Finance and Rudman.

Lawmaker promises to fight for more funding

“There’s no going back on the deal,” Department of Finance Director Joe Stephenshaw stressed to reporters during a budget briefing last week, saying that the state has already contributed the $10 million promised last year.

Wicks said budget restraints forced Newsom’s hand last year.

“What you saw last year was the budget being what it was,” she said. “Programs across the board got cut and sliced, either got completely zeroed out or significantly reduced, and this is no different.”

But she said she will fight for more funding.

“I’ve been operating on the assumption that (the state) will honor the multiyear commitment,” Wicks said.

But even the full amount of the Google deal may not be enough to “arrest the collapse of independent community news in California,” said former state Sen. Steve Glazer, an Orinda Democrat who authored a bill that would have offered tax credits to employers of journalists by charging a fee to platforms like Google.

“Leaders can't just talk about protecting our democracy,” he said. “They need to act to direct the resources to support independent news reporting that provides the oversight and accountability of our democratic institutions.”

The journalism industry nationwide has been diminishing. Between 2005 and 2024, more than 3,200 newspapers shut their doors, according to a 2024 report by the Local News Initiative at Northwestern University.

As of that year, California had 1.5 news outlets for every 100,000 residents, ranking 45th among all 50 states and Washington, D.C. Between 2013 and 2024, the number of newspaper journalists in California dropped by more than half.

To make matters worse, Congress last year voted to strip public broadcast stations nationwide of federal funding, putting dozens of stations across California in peril. The Corporation for Public Broadcasting, a national nonprofit that has funded public media since 1967, announced its dissolution due to the funding cuts last week.

California’s public broadcasters stand to lose as much as $30 million a year due to the federal cuts, said Assemblymember Chris Ward, a San Diego Democrat, in a letter last month to legislative budget leaders requesting state funding for public media.

Ward, along with 11 other Democratic assemblymembers, is asking for $70 million next year for public broadcast stations.

“California is one of only 16 states that do not provide funding for public media,” he said in the letter. “California’s 33 non-profit public media organizations provide coverage to over 90% of the state, and serve diverse communities in both (the) largest metropolitan areas and rural communities — services that not only include arts, culture, and community engagement, but emergency alerts and education.”

CalMatters CEO Neil Chase was involved in the 2024 deal as a board member for Local Independent Online News Publishers. His views do not necessarily reflect those of the organization, newsroom or its staff.

This article was originally published on CalMatters and was republished under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license.

State health officials on Wednesday issued their second warning this season to avoid mushroom foraging as illness and deaths from eating wild mushrooms known as death caps rise to unprecedented highs.

Thirty-five people have gotten sick so far this season, three needed liver transplants, and three died, compared to a typical year that sees only three to five cases. Doctors worry more cases are coming amid a “super bloom” of death caps, sparked by early rains and warm temperatures in the fall.

“We anticipate that these mushrooms could continue to be fruiting in abundance throughout the rainy season in California,” said Dr. Craig Smollin, medical director of the San Francisco division of the California Poison Control System.

Immigrants from Mexico and China make up a disproportionate number of the cases, as death caps, or Amanita phalloides, look very similar to edible mushrooms that grow in those countries. The California Department of Public Health released a series of fact sheets and videos on Wednesday in multiple languages, including Mixteco, an indigenous language of Mexico spoken by communities in Monterey County, where the first poisonings emerged in November.

Since then, people have been treated in hospitals throughout the Bay Area after eating mushrooms found in the Oakland Hills, Stinson Beach and Pinnacles National Park, among other sites, though Smollin said that they grow along the West Coast and that no part of California is a death cap-free zone. Some dogs have also died.

Death cap mushrooms sit by the side of a trail during an educational mushroom walk at Anthony Chabot Regional Park in Oakland on Dec. 12, 2025. Mushroom foraging is not allowed in the park.

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“It’s a really dangerous time to be mushroom hunting and foraging right now,” said Dr. Rita Nguyen, assistant state public health director. “It can be very hard, even for experts, to identify the difference between edible mushrooms and not.”

Symptoms of death cap poisoning include nausea, vomiting and diarrhea, and can occur 6 to 24 hours after ingestion. Extreme cases can lead to liver failure, necessitating an urgent liver transplant or death. Cooking, boiling or freezing the mushrooms does not inactivate the toxin.

“A single bite of the mushroom could cause significant toxicity,” Smollin said.

Local mushroom experts and enthusiasts have bemoaned the state’s messaging around the poisonings as narrow and fear-based. Many would prefer to see an emphasis on education, rather than a prohibition on all foraging, and point out that touching, smelling and looking at mushrooms is safe.

“There’s a lot more nuance,” said Debbie Viess, co-founder of the Bay Area Mycological Society. “It’s much more important to steer people to places where they can educate themselves about the safety and the dangers of eating wild mushrooms.”

Viess said field reports coming into her organization suggest the growth of death caps may be slowing in the Bay Area, while another kind of poisonous mushroom known as the destroying angel, or Amanita ocreata, is starting to pop up.

People who believe they or a family member may have ingested a toxic mushroom — or health care providers who have a patient showing signs of mushroom toxicity — can call the state’s toll-free poison control hotline 24/7, free of charge for advice: 1-800-222-1222.

Translation services are available in any language, and all personal information is kept confidential, said Dr. Cyrus Rangan, a pediatrician and toxicologist with poison control.

“We can then determine whether you need to go into the emergency department or whether we, as poison experts, can help you treat the situation at home,” he said.