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Today's Stories  July 26, 2006 Jonathan Cook Five Myths That Sanction Israel's War Crimes Patrick Cockburn Beware Iraqi Leaders Bearing Good News William Blum They Simply Can't Stop Lying, Can They? Joshua Frank Israel's Invasion Pretext Under Fire Gabriel Kolko Bankers Fear World Economic Breakdown Daniel Cassidy How the Irish Invented Dudes Uri Avnery Is Beirut Burning? July 25, 2006 Harry Browne Acquittal!: Activists Found Not Guilty in Irish Ploughshares Case Marjorie Cohn Willful Blindness: Bush Greenlights War Crimes Robert Bryce Israel and the Irony of UN Resolutions Sharat G. Lin Chronology of the Latest Chrisis in the Middle East George Bisharat Most Lebanese Now Know Who Their Real Tormentor Is CounterPunch News Desk Class War in the Blathersphere Zena El-Khalil "Tell Them That I'm Not Leaving. We Love Lebanon" Larry Lack The Bottled Water Madness Mike Mejia The Secret Behind "State Secrets" Ashraf Isma'il Why Israel Is Losing Website of the Day Peace on Trial July 24, 2006 Mark Levy The Whys and Wherefores of PTSD Robert Fisk Israelis Bomb Fleeing Villagers Maher Osseiran Beirut, 1982 Paul Craig Roberts Israel's Criminal Accomplice Patrick Cockburn More Than 100 Iraqis Being Killed Each Day Website of the Day sirnosir.com July 22-23, 2006 Jonathan Cook Israel's Indiscriminate Onslaughts Paul Craig Roberts The Shame of Being an American Gilad Atzmon Israel's New Math Robert Fisk Elegy for Beirut Ralph Nader Here's How to Halt This Horror Fred Gardner The Double Standard on Depression Christopher Reed The Right's Use of Sexpot Schoolgirls Dr. Susan Block Bush's Fecal World Najla Said Do People Know How Much We Hurt? Uri Avnery "Stop that Shit" July 21, 2006 George Galloway John Cornford and the Fight for the Spanish Republic P. Sainath Indian Prime Minister Faces the Dead Farmer Problem Aseem Shrivastava The Iraq War is a Huge Success Alexander Cockburn Hezbollah, Hamas and Israel: Everything You Need to Know Website of the Day FromIsraeltoLebanon July 20, 2006 William S. Lind Why Hezbollah is Winning Robert Jensen Florida Puts History on Probation John Ross AMLO Presidente! Tom Hayden I Was Israel's Dupe Paul Craig Roberts The Unfolding Horror Show July 19, 2006 Patrick Cockburn Massacres Soar in Central Iraq: Maliki Government Discredited Trish Schuh Israel Targets, Flattens Beirut TV Station HQ Jonathan Cook Is Israel Using Arab Villages As Human Shields? Vicente Navarro The Spanish Civil War, 70 Years On: The Deafening Silence on Franco's Genocide July 17 / 18 2006 Mike Whitney Israel's Shameful Attack on Gaza Kathleen Christison Atrocities in the Promised Land July 14 / 15, 2006 Weekend Edition Alexander Cockburn How Venice is Dying Tanya Reinhart The IDF is Hungry for War Robert Fisk Beirut Waits: Is Damascus the Key? Daniel Cassidy How the Irish Invented Jazz Winslow Wheeler Pentagon Budget Gimmickry: When a Cut is Actually an Increase Hugh O'Shaughnessy In Amazonia: Slavery and Deforestation M. Shahid Alam Israel, the US and the New Orientalism William S. Lind Two Signposts in Iraq Ramzy Baroud Racism Plagues Media Coverage of Gaza Assault Gilad Atzmon Echoes of the Wehrmacht Elizabeth Weill-Greenberg Railroading Your Rights Samar Assad A History of Israeli-Palestinian Prisoner Exchanges Ron Jacobs Japan and Pre-Emptive Strikes: Why Would They Want to Go There? Lee Ballinger A New Kind of Jim Crow? Walter Brasch A World Without Fajitas?: the Rightwing's Language Police Dave Lindorff The Bush Swingers?: They Broke the Law and People Died Clifton Ross Up from Below in Oaxaca Tom Crumpacker Planning for the Re-Colonization of Cuba Ricardo Alarcon The Mad Annexationist William Hughes Rev. Billy Graham: A War-Monger in the Pulpit Susie Day Bugging Hillary Farrah Hassen The Road to Gitmo: Dramatizing the Banality of Evil Poets' Basement Smith-Ferri, Engel and Davies July 13, 2006 Saul Landau Lies as Patriotism? Youmans / Erakat Divestment, Corporate Engagement and IsraelDave Lindorff Cut and Run: a Winning StrategyRon Jacobs Dogs of War Barking at the MoonCol. Dan Smith Iraq: Fool Me TwiceJune 22, 2006Marjorie Cohn Friendly Fire AmbushWinslow T. Wheeler Lockheed, the Senator and the F-22Tanya Reinhart A Week of Israeli RestraintMike Marqusee The Forest Gate RaidWilliam Blum Why Bush's Iraq is Worse Than Saddam's July 12, 2006 John Ross Mexico Splits in Half: the Election Hits the Streets John Stauber The CIA Propagandist and Former Prankster Stewart Brand: John Rendon's Long, Strange Trip in the Terror Wars Robert Boston Top 10 Powerbrokers of the Religious Right Wayne S. Smith Bush's New Cuba Plan: Embargoes, Blacklists and Assassination Plots John Graham Secrecy and the Curtain of Oz Ed Kinane Arrested for Failing to Obey a Lawful Order to Cease Protesting an Unlawful War: My Statement to the US District Court Kevin Prosen Goodbye Mr. Zeidler, You Will Be Missed Jonathan Cook Israel's Latest Bueaucratic Obscenity Website of the Day Addicted to Oil: Starring GW Bush   July 11, 2006 Dave Lindorff Does a State of War Give Bush the Right to Commit War Crimes? Dave Zirin Why I Wear My Zidane Jersey Mokhiber / Weissman Boeing's Criminal Agreement: Odd and Unusual Amira Hass A War on Families Clare Hanrahan The Last Free Fourth of July? Brian Cloughey Stop Blaming Pakistan Felice Pace The US Media and the World Cup Raed Jarrar Iraq: Raped Website of the Day Bad Boy of Gitmo   July 10, 2006 Paul Craig Roberts Courting Doom with North Korea Uri Avnery A One-Sided War Roger Burbach Democracy Betrayed: Electoral Fraud and Rebellion in Mexico Ron Jacobs The New SDS: Toward a Radical Youth Movement Joshua Frank Sectarian Flames in Iraq Missy Comley Beattie Bush's Stunning Admission to Larry King Alexander Cockburn The War in Iraq: a Dreadful Mistake July 8 / 9, 2006 Weekend Edition Stephen Green When War Criminals Retire Paul Craig Roberts Republic or Empire?: Lessons from Stanford Greg Moses Boots Down on the Rio Grande Ralph Nader The Wail of the Oceans Laura Carlsen Mexico's Election Lacks Credibility Conn Hallinan Dumping Musharraf: Is Pakistan Expendable? John Chuckman Afghanistan is No One's War Fred Gardner Big Pharma's Strange Holy Grail: Cannabis Without Euphoria? Dr. Tod Mikuriya Cannabis as a Frontline Treatment for Childhood Mental Disorders Pierre Tristam Missile Envy: Is N. Korea Bush's Most Reliable Ally? Lucinda Marshall Deep Sexing the News: the Rape of Iraq David Swanson Command Rape: the Ordeal of Suzanne Swift Heather Gray The Spiral of Violence: What the Dead Might Tell Us Dave Zirin / John Cox French Soccer and the Future of Europe: Le Pen's Racists vs. Zindane and Henry Mark Engler Mexico's Fear of Democracy: Elites, Fraud and the Status Quo Michael Lettieri Mexico: Don't Discount a Recount Ron Jacobs 2008 Might Be Too Late: the Case for Impeachment Now Jamal Juma' Globalizing the Occupation Jeffrey St. Clair Playlist: What I'm Listening to This Week Poets' Basement Engel and Kirbach   July 7, 2006 John Ross Anatomy of a Fraud Foretold: Mexico's Surreal Elections July 6, 2006 Nick Dearden Profiting from the Occupation: the Corporate Interests Behind the War on Palestine John Stanton Nationalize the Defense Industry Ralph Nader The Politics of the Minimum Wage Laray Polk Cambodia Then; Gaza Now Saul Landau Who Mourned the Victims of the US Covert War on Chile? Joshua Frank Sweet Angst, Power Chords and Politics: Farewell Sleater-Kinney William S. Lind To Be or Not to Be a State? Hamas and 4th Generation War Adelman / Lindorff Impeachment Comes to Main Street, USA Jonathan Cook An Experiment in Human Despair Website of the Day Adulterers in Chief? July 5, 2006 Mike Whitney Is Cheney Betting on Economic Collapse?: the Veep's Curious Investment Portfolio Saul Landau False Axioms: Star Democrats and Iraq Massacres Ramzy Baroud And Israel Shall Be Safe Again Missy Comley Beattie An Axis of Nuts: Ready, Aim, Fear Arthur Neslen A Way Out of the Gaza Crisis? Vincent Maruffi Party Politics in Connecticut: Lieberman, Lamont and the Greens Paul Cantor Aberrations: Hell, High Water and the Moral High Ground Paul D. Johnson Mystery Meat: Let's Be Honest About Food's Origin David Price Shouting Down Nazis in Olympia July 4, 2006 Col. Dan Smith Iraq and Independence Day: Lessons from the War of 1812 Chris Floyd American Power in Mahmudiyah Marjorie Cohn Israel's Collective Punishment of Gaza James Brooks Israel 9,000 Palestine 1: Destroying the Gaza Strip Medea Benjamin "Dictatress of the World:" Has America Become JQ Adams' Worst Nightmare? Matt Reichel An Independence Day Lesson for the American Left from France Elisa Salasin Why I am Fasting Today Rick Wilhelm Will Lieberman Apologize to Ralph Nader? Paul Craig Roberts Rape, Lies and Murder Website of the Day A Mighty Handsome Family   July 3, 2006 Robert Bryce Gaza in the Dark: Poor, Frustrated and Powerless Dr. Bouthaina Shaban "I Hope You're Not Here to Talk About the Palestinians" Julia Olmstead The Biofuel Illusion: Running on Top Soil Dave Lindorff The Real Meaning of the Hamdan Ruling: Bush Adm. Has Committed War Crimes Andres Gomez A Mockery of Justice Alan Singer Another Encounter with Chuck Schumer: Just as Hawkish as Hillary, But Nastier Alexander Cockburn Temple of Mammon, Planet of Doom July 1/2, 2006 Weekend Edition Paul Craig Roberts Bush's Assaults on Freedom: What's to Stop Him? Stephen T. Banko Echoes from Vietnam; Nightmares in Iraq Daniel Cassidy How the Irish Invented Slang: the Bunkum of Bunkum (for Dizzy Gillespie) Fawzia Afzal-Khan The Class Behind the Muslim Jeff Taylor The Sandy Foundation of the White House: a Bible-Believing Christian's View of Bush John Ross Mexico: There's a Riot Going On Greg Moses Psycho-Management Hits Mexico's Maquiladoras Laura Carlsen Mexico's Elections: a Choice for Change Justin E.H. Smith Lethal Injection and Other Fashion Trends Brian Cloughley Different Worlds: When Liberation is Worse Than Oppression Anthony Papa Punishing Addiction: No Walk in the Park for Dwight Gooden Mike Ferner Getting Busted for Wearing a Peace T-Shirt Jerry Tucker Liberalism's Long Goodbye: McGovern Hoists the White Flag Jane Goodall / Rick Asselta Remembering the Marshall Islands Phyllis Pollack Roll Over Beethoven: Chuck Berry is Back in Town Poets' Basement Salasin, Swindell, Ferri-Smith and Engel   June 30, 2006 Marjorie Cohn Supreme Rebuke: Bush Loses Gitmo Case Heather Williams Will Mexicans Ignore What Bolivians Learned? Burbach / Cantor Yellowback Democrats: the Party of Cut-and-Run (from Principle) Nick Dearden Crime in the Valley: Life on the Other Side of Palestine Michael J. Smith Under the Broadcast Flag: Intellectual Property as Intellectual Theft Brian Concannon The Return to Haiti: a Homecoming for Aristide? Virginia Tilley Israel's Appalling Act: Starving in the Dark   June 29, 2006 Bill Quigley Gutting New Orleans Ron Jacobs Killing a Nation to Rescue a Soldier Paul Craig Roberts The High Price of American Gullibility June 28, 2006 Jorge Mariscal Mexican-American Soldiers, Iraq and the Politics of Immigrant Bashing Greg Moses Down in Pinal County: Where the Pun's on Us Mark Weisbrot Mexico: Their Brand is Crisis Ramzy Baroud Re-Interpreting Iraq: the Latest Propaganda Campaign Dave Lindorff Redacting the Constitution: Why Signing Statements Matter William S. Lind Neither Shall the Sword: War in a Fouth Generation World Mike Ferner 50 Years Down the Wrong Direction: Taken for a Ride on the Interstate Highway System Zoltan Grossman Military Resistance: a Brief History   June 27, 2006 Marjorie Cohn Playing Politics with Timetables Benjamin / Jarrar Leading Dems Froth Over Amnesty Plan William Hughes Roadmap to Starvation Doug Giebel Showdown in Montana: Burns vs. Testor Uri Avnery The World Cup and Middle East Peace Alexander Cockburn Hitchens Hails the "Glorious War"   June 26, 2006 Don Santina American Rituals: Massacres, Baseball and Apple Pies Ralph Nader Beyond Binary Politics Dave Lindorff CounterPunch v. CounterPunch: Taking Impeachment on the Road Rafael Rodriguez-Cruz An Interview with Mumia Abu-Jamal on Hispanics and Latin America Evelyn Pringle Big Pharma's Big Graveyard: Drug Profits, Fraud and Death Jonathan Cook Israeli "Retaliation" and Double Standards June 23, 2006 Youmans / Erakat Divestment, Corporate Engagement and Israel Dave Lindorff Cut and Run: a Winning Strategy Ron Jacobs Dogs of War Barking at the Moon Col. Dan Smith Iraq: Fool Me Twice June 22, 2006 Marjorie Cohn Friendly Fire Ambush Winslow T. Wheeler Lockheed, the Senator and the F-22 Tanya Reinhart A Week of Israeli Restraint Mike Marqusee The Forest Gate Raid William Blum Why Bush's Iraq is Worse Than Saddam's June 21, 2006Ramzy Baroud Zarqawi's Death: Myth vs. RealityPatrick Cockburn Embassy Work as Death SentenceGary Leupp Making the Case for ImpeachmentGreg Moses Elite Logic at the BorderJune 20, 2006Fred Gardner The Long War on AspirinOmar Waraich Ode to Joy: Watching Blair SinkChristopher Reed Japan Nixes Payments to Its Wartime SlavesCP Newswire Coca Cola Takes a HitJonathan Cook Israel Engineers Another Cover-UpJune 19, 2006Bill Quigley HUD's Bulldozers and the Poor of New OrleansJohn Walsh Tears of a Clown: Al Franken's WarMike Whitney The Zoom Lens War: Bush's Baghdad Photo OpAlexander Cockburn The Left and the BlathersphereJune 16 / 18, 2006 Weekend EditionKathy / Bill Christision The Power of the Israel LobbyJoseph Nevins On the Migrant Trail: No More Walls, No More DeathsFarrah Hassen An Interview with Syria's Ambassador to the US, Dr. Imad MoustaphaGreg Moses The Real Mission of the Uniformed Ghost at the BorderNicole Colson "There's No Hope at Gitmo"John Scagliotti How MoveOn Wastes Its Donors' MoneyMokhiber / Weissmann Corporate DemocratsJune 15, 2006Kathy Kelly Look Them in the Eye: Honest Abe and the Residents of RamadiNorman Solomon Premature Triangulation: Hillary's Big ProblemRon Jacobs Publicity Stunts as Public PolicySam Bahour Cover Up on Gaza BeachRamzy Baroud Palestine on the BrinkCounterPunch Wire Death Squads at Colombia's UniversitiesGabriel Kolko Why a Global Economic Deluge LoomsWebsite of the Day Antje Duvekot: Music You've Been Waiting Years to HearJune 14, 2006Nicole Colson "They Want the Fear Level at a High Pitch": An Interview with Lawyer Lynne StewartJonathan Cook Israeli Law and OrderJoseph Schechla Bulldozing Palestine: an Open Letter to Caterpillar, Inc.Michael Carmichael Bolton at Oxford: Jeered and TauntedEvelyn Pringle Karl and George, the Teflon PartnershipWard Churchill My Trial By Media: Turning Quibbles Over Footnotes into FeloniesRev. William E. Alberts Decoding the Coders of Christ: Jesus the Political Insurgent?Website of the Day Marines Iraq Snuff FilmJune 13, 2006Medea Benjamin Take Back America Suppresses Anti-War Dissenters at HRC SpeechAnthony Alessandrini The Evil of Banality: the General, the New York Times and the Gitmo SuicidesPaul D'Amato The Meaning of HadithaDave Lindorff The Strange Death of Zarqawi: Was He Killed So He Wouldn't Talk?John Ross Elections and the World Cup: If Team Mexico Advances, Will Anyone Show Up to Vote for Lopez Obrador?Gabriel Garcia Venezuela and Drug Trafficking: Bush Bashes Chavez Despite Positive ResultsHilton Obenzinger DIvestment is a Stand for Equality in IsraelYitzhak Laor The Secret of AuthorityJuan Antonio Ocasio Rivera Puerto Rico at the UNJennifer Van Bergen The Story Behind Zarqawi's Death: What's the Legality of the Assassination?Website of the Day Paul Wright: a Real American Freedom FighterJune 12, 2006Paul Craig Roberts Bush's Armageddon Wish: a Final End to History?Patrick Cockburn The US Already Misses ZarqawiMike Marqusee Rebranding a Team: English Nationalism and the World CupLee Sustar "I Never Had the American Dream:" Left with No Future by GM and DelphiRobert Fisk Has Racism Invaded Canada?Michael J. Smith Enter Sandman; Exit KoslandFelice Pace NPR's Warped Covereage of the MIddle EastJennifer Loewenstein Setting the Record Straight on HamasWebsite of the Day Our Way HomeJune 10 / 11, 2006 Weekend EditionRobert Fisk Zarqawi's End is not a Famous VictoryDiane Christian Zarqawi's FaceJoe Allen The American Way of Atrocities: Marine Corps' Killer VirtuesRalph Nader Let Us All Praise the Dixie ChicksFred Gardner Tylenol Toxicity TerrorDave Lindorff Nothing New About HadithaDave Zirin / John Cox Will Racism Spoil the World Cup?Dennis Perrin Death is Patriotic: Necro-Porn, Live on CNNGreg Moses Militarizing the Border: Why Operation Jump Start Worries MeJohn Chuckman Terror in Toronto or Tempest in a Teapot?Michael J. Smith Babes in Kosland: Dem Blogfest, Day TwoRoger Burbach Bachelet in DC: Chilean President Refuses to Back Down to BushIra Moskowitz Israeli Court Finds Mad-Dog US Prof Libeled CounterPuncher Neve GordonSam Bahour The Gaza Air Strikes: Begging for a ResponseSeth Sandronsky Grocery Chains and Bush's Ownership Society: Profits Fall, Stores CloseMichael Berg A Father's Day Message: Both Parties Have Betrayed AmericaKirsten Roberts Desmond Dekker and the Music of the ShantytownsRon Jacobs Who's Fooling Who?Jeffrey St. Clair Playlist: What I'm Listening to This WeekPoets' Basement Jones, Davies, Engel and Louise Website of the Weekend Miles and Trane, So What?

July 26, 2006 “The dude is from 19 to 28 years of age, wears trousers of extreme tightness” How the Irish Invented Dudes By DANIEL CASSIDY Dude, n.,a dapper dandy; a ‘swell,’ an affected, fastidious fop; a city slicker at a dude ranch. “Origin unknown.” (Barnhart Dictionary of English Etymology, 305.) Dúd, (pron. dood), dúd(a), al. dúid, n., a foolish-looking fellow; a dolt, a numbskull; a clown; an idiot; a rubbernecker; a long-necked eavesdropper. (Dineen, 377, 378; Ó Dónaill, 459, 460.) Dúdach, adj., rubber-necked; foolish-looking, queer. Dúdaire, n., a clown, an idiot (Kerry); a long-necked person; a dolt; an eavesdropper. Dúdálaí, n., a stupid person; an idiot; a self-conscious person.  (Dineen, 377, 378; Ó Dónaill, 459, 460, Foclóir Póca, 349, 350) Dúd (pron. dood, a dolt) was a moniker Irish Americans slapped on slumming, dapper, wealthy, young “swells,” out on a “spree” (spraoi, fun, sport, frolic, a drinking bout) in the concert saloons, dance halls, and theaters of old New York.  On February 25th, 1883, the Brooklyn Eagle defined the new word “dude” on the front page. “A new word has been coined. It is d-u-d-e or d-o-o-d. The spelling does not seem to be distinctly settled yet...Just where the word came from nobody knows, but it has sprung into popularity in the last two weeks, so that now everybody is using it...A dude cannot be old; he must be young, and to be properly termed a dude he should be of a certain class who affect Metropolitan theaters. The dude is from 19 to 28 years of age, wears trousers of extreme tightness, is hollow chested, effeminate in his ways, apes the English and distinguishes himself among his fellowmen as a lover of actresses. The badge of his office is the paper cigarette, and his bell crown English opera hat is his chiefest (sic) joy... As a rule they are rich men’s sons, and very proud of the unlimited cash at their command....They are a harmless lot of men in one way...but they are sometimes offensive. No dude is a real dude who does not talk to a fellow dude in a loud voice during the play...The most eminent dude in New York is the son of a Wall street broker of considerable wealth...and his name has been muddied up with half a dozen dirty scandals.” (Brooklyn Eagle, Feb. 28, 1883, 1)     The “dudes” of the Oxford English Dictionary believe “dude” is an artificial “slang” word, connected to the English aesthetic movement of the late 19th century. Dude: “A factitious slang term which came into vogue in New York about the beginning of 1883, in connexion with the ‘æsthetic’ craze of that day. Actual origin not recorded.” (OED online, July 23, 2006) This is a word-perfect example of an English Dictionary Dúd (pron. dood, numbskull) etymology, which allows for no Irish influence on the imperial English lingo, dude!  Oscar Wilde was the most famous ‘æsthetic’ English “dude” in the world. Only Oscar Wilde was a brilliant, quirky (corr-chaoi, odd-mannered, odd-shaped), literary Irish dúd, (pron. dood, long-necked, foolish-looking fellow), instead. THE DUDE (Brooklyn Eagle, 1885) “Everybody has expressed a desire to define the dude, and yet there can be no better definition than this, that he is one who should be fined for appearing on the streets in men’s clothes. He is a result of Oscar Wilde, and is as much the furniture of nature and art as is the slim neckedstork...” (Brooklyn Eagle, Aug. 16, 1885, 6.)   The “dude” was an early “Stage-door Johnny.” DUDES DID DINE With Some of the Girls of the Gaiety Company Waylaying Their Guests at the Theater Door – Rude Young Men Who Took The Everett Assembly Rooms Gallery by Storm... “The New York morning papers were never more mistaken in their lives than when they said that the Gaiety girls did not go to the ball at Everett Hall last evening. They did go or, at least, enough of them went to make the dudes who invited them and who put up $25 each for the entertainment happy.” (Brooklyn Eagle, Jan. 22, 1889, 4) In the 1880s, the average daily wage for textile workers (for a ten-hour day) was $2.00 for men and $1.17 for women; if you were lucky enough to have a job. (Philip Foner, A History of the Labor Movement in the United States, Vol. I, 1947, (1972), 442)     At one point, there was a fear that the “dude” would become extinct.   ALL THE DUDES ON HAND (headline, Brooklyn Eagle, 1884) What Came of Answering a Newspaper “Personal” A South Brooklyn Young Man Made the Victim of a Party of Jokers -- “A few days ago sundry South Brooklyn youths...had noticed with sorrow the gradual disappearance of the genuine dude, and feared...it would disappear like the dodo. It was resolved to see if any of the species still existed.” (Brooklyn Eagle, Aug. 17, 1884, 12) But by the 1890s, “dudes” were dancing in the streets.  The hit song “Sidewalks of New York,” even featured a waltzing “dude”.  “Little Nelly Kelly, with a dude as light as cork, learned to do the waltz-step on the sidewalks of New York.” (The Sidewalks of N.Y., James W. Blake and Charles E. Lawlor, 1890). Soon, the word dúd (pron. dood, a dolt, a numbskull) was being applied to all dapper young “sports,” whether they were “swells” or not. “Big Dick” Butler was an Irish Hell’s Kitchen slugger (slacaire, a mauler, a bruiser) who styled himself a teenage “dude” in the 1890s.  “My hair was slicked back from the right side, semi-pompadour...Oh, I was a dude, all right, a regular Jim Dandy.” (Butler and Driscoll, Dock Walloper, NY, 1934, 78.)  Some “dudes” scrammed out west.  “I’m a coyote of the prairie dude, hear me zip;In the company of gentleman I’m rude with my lip...”(J. Lomax, Cowboy Songs and Frontier Ballads, “The Bad Man from the Brazos,” ca. 1884, 1910, [1938], 138) But, at the end of the day, “dude” could also be an angry epithet. In Eugene O’Neill’s early play, Abortion, written in 1914, Joe Murray is an Irish-American mechanic from the other side of the tracks, whose sister has just died in a botched abortion. Murray confronts the Yale dúd, who dumped her with just enough money to pay for a back-alley abortionist. “Murray: ‘...Yuh think yuh c’n get away with that stuff and then marry some goil of your own kind... I’ve always hated yuh since yuh first come to the house.  I’ve always hated your kind. Yuh come here to school and yuh think yuh c’n do as yuh please with us town people. Yuh treat us like servants, an what are you, I’d like to know? A lot of lazy no-good dudes spongin’ on your old men; and the goils, our goils, think yuh’re grand!” (Abortion, 1914, 217) But, the last “woid” on “de dood” goes to the 1890’s cartoon character Mickey Dugan, the “Yellow Kid” of “Hogan’s Alley” and “McFadden’s Row of Flats,” whose Irish-American Vernacular speech became “woild” famous in Joseph Pulitzer’s N.Y. World and William Randolph Hearst’s N.Y. Journal. It was de “Yellow Kid” who gave his moniker to de “Yellow Press.” The Yellow Kid’s Diary New York Journal, Nov., 18, 1898 “I seen me friend Mrs. Gould in one uv der boxes...But some of dem doods wot wuz sittin’ around Mrs. Astor comes fer me...De wimmin down stairs had dere hats off, as if dey wuz afraid de doods in de boxes wuz goin’ t’ t’row paperballs on dere heads... de doods wuz all dressed up.”  (Richard Outcault, cartoon: The Yellow Kid’s Diary, “He Goes to the Opera,” N.Y. Journal, Nov. 18, 1898.) Dude is Irish, dúd.   (Unless you are an “English Dictionary Dúd.) Dúd, (pron. dood), n., a foolish-looking fellow; a dolt, a numbskull; a clown; an idiot. Daniel Cassidy is founder and co-director of An Léann Éireannach, the Irish Studies Program, at New College  of California in San Francisco. Cassidy is an award-winning filmmaker  and musician. His research on the Irish language influence on  American vernacular and slang has been published in the New  York Observer ("Decoding the Gangs of New York"),  Ireland's Hot Press magazine, The San Francisco Chronicle,  and Lá, the Irish-language newspaper. His book,  The Secret Language of the Crossroad: How the Irish Invented  Slang, will be published by CounterPunch Books in Spring  2007. Cassidy was born in Brooklyn and lives with his wife Clare  in San Francisco. He can be reached at DanCas1@aol.com

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