ヤンキー?ドゥードゥル(Yankee Doodle)、ヤンキー(Yankee)から略された可能性もあるし、ドゥードゥル(dawdle)、さまよう(wander)から直接略された可能性もある。
Now, "tenderfoot" is not to be construed as the Western equivalent of that much evolved and more abused specimen of mankind, familiarly styled "dude." For even the Montana cowboy recognizes the latter. Not that he has ever seen the true prototype of a class that was erstwhile so numerous among us. But he is convinced that a person caught in the act of wearing a white linen collar, and who looks as though he might have recently shaved or washed his face, must be a dude, true and proper. ["Random Notes and Observations of a Trip through the Great Northwest," "The Medical Record," Oct. 20, 1883]Application to any male is recorded by 1966, U.S., originally in Black English.