Please don't call me Dude

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I notice that calling anyone, man or woman, Dude seems to be the new fashion. Some of my younger colleagues will sometimes address me as 'Dude'!

It used to be that only young guys used Dude to address one another, more often in the stoner culture. Now younger women will use it on me, a 50 something matron!

Let me say here, I don't care for it. I am not a dude. You all are welcome to use my name, but please don't call me Dude.

Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

This thread got me thinking about my own speech patterns. I don't use any of those words. I don't use anything. I simply say, "please," "thank-you," "hello," etc. without adding anything to it.

The words we are discussing in this thread are all totally unnecessary. Since they are often offensive, I see no reason to use any of them.

Good thread.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Academics.
What about Dudette? ;)

(actually....there's a member here by that name....NM!)

Present, dude!

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Specializes in ICU / PCU / Telemetry / Oncology.
This thread got me thinking about my own speech patterns. I don't use any of those words. I don't use anything. I simply say, "please," "thank-you," "hello," etc. without adding anything to it.

The words we are discussing in this thread are all totally unnecessary. Since they are often offensive, I see no reason to use any of them.

Good thread.

I'm the same way. I don't sir or ma'am anyone else and I cringe hearing sir directed at me. I quickly deflect them by saying, "Oh, you can call me Paco," in a quite polite manner. I use Dude only with close friends and rarely at that, mostly when responding to something outrageous ( ... Dude! That's too much to pay for a transmission job ... ).

With kids however, I don't have a problem with using champ or buddy with boys or sweetie with girls. Seems to make them more at ease, that more easily rolls of my tongue.

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Specializes in Registered Nurse.

I address people by their names but tend to mispronounce many of them. There are some challenging ones. I don't think I'd ever call someone Dude only because so many people (especially if they don't know you well) will get angry. Even when I worked with some people a long while, I never tended to use those type of names. I think my daughter has called me Nurse Rachet though. :sarcastic:

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Specializes in Behavioral Health.
The southern part of my speech lives with me and I use "sweetheart, honey, and bless your heart" without even thinking. I guess I'm leaving a trail of disgusted people in my wake :)

.

Oh well, call me anything; dude, bro, I don't care. The only thing that gives me pause is when a cute 20 something man calls me Ma'am. Doesn't irritate me, just makes me feel OLD and slightly depressed.

I was partially raised by a Southern granny, and she would have been (and frequently was) disgusted if I didn't use honorifics. Now anyone who is helping me is a sir or ma'am. The 16-year-old who bags my groceries? "Thank you, sir." The barista at the coffee shop? "No, ma'am, no whipped cream." The bartender at my local gives me grief for it all the time, but it's not even conscious anymore. It just comes out.

I also say, "howdy," which annoys the heck out of me.

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

The one thing I can't stand is being called "honey", "sweetie", or "dear" by someone who is decades younger than I. I love it when an older person does it, but when someone in their 20s or 30s says it, I start looking around for my walker and foraging in my purse for a Kleenex. Sheesh, I'd rather be called "ma'am"!

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Specializes in Med nurse in med-surg., float, HH, and PDN.

A simple way for me to deal with it is to ask what the person wants me to call them. I am sparing with the ma'am/sir, never use an endearment unless my patient is a long term (PD case) and we have happened upon 'nicknames' for each other that develops from our personal history together.

I had one guy who loved it when I referred to him as "Buster", and one lady who was so nice, it tickled her to pieces when I referred to her a "you mean old woman!"

I get called a lot of names that start with "S" like Sharon or Sandra, neither of which are my real name. But that doesn't bother me....

Like Farawyn, I am a born and raised yankee living for the last 30 years in the south, but I have learned to let a lot of things roll off my back by now. But I still don't especially like being referred to as honey or sweetie by an 18 year old. Oh, well. Though I don't have grey hair, I do have a network of wrinkles, so I can't deny I am of a certain age anymore. That's life!

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Specializes in Transitional Nursing.

I use sunshine a lot because I feel like it's unisex and honestly, I almost never remember my patients names. (I know, it's bad).

One day I walked into a patients room and said "Morning sunshine". He replied "Well Hi there Moonbeam".

Sorry, just made me think of it.

I"m this random IRL, also. :-/

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Specializes in Transitional Nursing.
I start looking around for my walker and foraging in my purse for a Kleenex. Sheesh, I'd rather be called "ma'am"!

:roflmao:

I hate Ma'am too, but I'm southern now so I'm starting to get used to it.

Whenever I comment that I'm not used to hearing it someone has to say "It's a sign of respect".

Yes, yes, yes, I KNOW that but in New England it means "You deserve respect because you're older than dirt so I'm going to call you Ma'am" Either that, or it means you're a judge. ;-)

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Specializes in M/S, LTC, Corrections, PDN & drug rehab.
:roflmao:

I hate Ma'am too, but I'm southern now so I'm starting to get used to it.

Whenever I comment that I'm not used to hearing it someone has to say "It's a sign of respect".

Yes, yes, yes, I KNOW that but in New England it means "You deserve respect because you're older than dirt so I'm going to call you Ma'am" Either that, or it means you're a judge. ;-)

My mom was born & raised in New Jersey so when we moved to Texas she had to get use to people calling her ma'am.

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Specializes in Registered Nurse.
......Like Farawyn, I am a born and raised yankee living for the last 30 years in the south, but I have learned to let a lot of things roll off my back by now. But I still don't especially like being referred to as honey or sweetie by an 18 year old. Oh, well. Though I don't have grey hair, I do have a network of wrinkles, so I can't deny I am of a certain age anymore. That's life!

Funny, I am also 100% Northerner transplanted for a few years. LOL The Honey and Sweeties usually come from older folks, so I don't mind. A few times it was a 20-something....but I just let it roll off...

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Specializes in Emergency/Cath Lab.

No problem bro

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