A dude is an American slang term for an individual, typically male. Originally, from the 1870s to the 1960s, dude primarily meant a male person who dressed in an extremely fashionable manner (a dandy) or a conspicuous citified person who was visiting a rural location. The term was also used as a "job description", such as "bush hook dude" as a position on a railroad in the 1880s. In the early 1960s, dude became prominent in surfer culture as a synonym of guy or fella. By the late 20th to early 21st century, dude had gained the ability to be used in the form of expression, whether that be disappointment, excitement, or loving and it also widened to be able to refer to any general person no matter race, sex, or culture. Nowadays, dude is a slang greeting term between men, meaning "guy" or "man".