The Language of the Dude

Dude. Have you ever noticed how versatile the word "Dude" is? My cousin and I were discussing this last week. You can have an entire conversation consisting of nothing but the word "Dude" using a variety of intonations with a variety of gestures. How kick-ass is that? The best part of this revelation? My cousin and I acting out said conversation for my grandma. It went something like this:

The Scene: A high school classroom. My cuz "A" will be playing the role of the teacher. I will be the tardy student.
V enters.
A: Dude! (waves hands in "Where have you been? Class is clearly in session" gesture)
V: Dude! (holds up note in classic "I am not at fault, my educational friend" gesture)
A: Dude. (said in "You are forgiven for your tardiness and disruption of the flow of learning. I should not have doubted you" tone, with accompanying placating hand gesture)
V: Du-ude. (said in "Quite all right, my good man" tone, with accompanying nod)

My grandmother did not quite follow the entire conversation, but my cousin and I nevertheless deemed our performance a resoundingly successful demonstration of the language of the Dude. (Bonus points for Lebowski comments.)

And in a random side note (as if this post weren't random enough already), I call my computer Little Dude. I'm a big fan of naming inanimate objects. My desktop was the original Big Dude (that was one honkin piece of machinery), and my first laptop just naturally became known as Little Dude. I am actually currently operating Little Dude: The Sequel and pondering the purchase of Little Dude the Third.

Do you ever use the word Dude? Or have I just simultaneously proven how young I am and how much of my life has been spent at the beach?