It says that "Immense!" was a common dude expression in 1883 -- it doesn't say for what, exactly, but I presume appreciation. I like it, actually! I'm going to start using it and see if I can start a trend.
I don’t know the true origin, but it sounds like Scots to me. “Aw” = “all”, and “but aw” would presumably be like “after all”, or “though” in Bristol (or maybe Yorkshire?) dialects.
Caesar was considered a 'hipster' in his time (prior to his conquest). He supported plebian donatives and programs, which created a populist support base but engendered distrust and hatred from the Optimates (conservatives). He was also said to have a different style of dress than was the norm.
Greek culture and language were a prestige thing in classical Rome; they were practiced by the very upper crust of society. There's a reason Julius Caesar's last words were said to have been in Greek.
I don't think hipsters have achieved quite that level of glamour.
"For a correct definition of the expression the anxious inquirer has only to turn to the tight-trousered, brief-coated, eye-glassed, fancy-vested, sharp-toes shod, vapid youth who abounds in the Metropolis at present."
I submit that this definition is as true today as it was in 1887.
I always thought "dude" meant: The crusty tuft of hair on a horse's asshole?
Seriously, a science teacher in high school read that definition from a dictionary, and handed out photocopies of it to my class, in the hopes that it would discourage us from using the word, because he got sick of hearing it. It had the opposite effect, obviously.
...but anyway, that's why I laughed when The Stranger in The Big Lebowski implied, with subtlety, the same meaning when he said it was a name "no one would self-apply" where he came from.
I don't know about the horse's ass part, but 'dude' is supposedly similar to 'yankee' in the rural western US, in the sense of being a useless, helpless outsider.
and how the policy about titles of submissions is being implemented by the moderation team. The article kindly submitted here is a very interesting article.
To answer my own question: 'The word doodle first appeared in the early 17th century to mean a fool or simpleton. It may derive from the German Dudeltopf or Dudeldop, meaning simpleton or noodle (literally "nightcap").' [1]
Not sure why the author of this article couldn't be bothered to complete the etymology he started.
Immense!