There are times when it may, or may not, be appropriate to mention how many "Mates" you have.
I think I see mate is a GB/Aus version of American dude. No?
Mate, stays "mate" even when it starts to get a bit argumentative, I think "dude" morphs into "pal" in this situation as in, "Listen, pal..."
It's a minefield, alright. In the UK a bloke can refer to his best mate as a "total b@stard!" but someone who is described as "a bit of a b@stard" is someone not well liked. Go figure...
I can only think of "they are pals, he is her pal...", "listen, pal" is a fun phrase, isn't it. I wander what that would be in French, I have heard talking of her being "Mademoiselle" ironically...or filette, with a nice empathic edge to it.
Dude used to sounds so horrifically pretentious to me, like rad , until I saw Big Lebowski. SO much more palatable now.
Dude and pal are little more "in your face" than mate.
I expect mate from any person from the British Isles, Australia or NZ or S.Africa.
It has a melody at comes across as friendly.
Buddy is perhaps closer to mate than pal or dude.
Mate with just the right accent is really nice.
What Bill said, 'cept i would use "mate" with my mates..
"she's my mate, mate"
"no worries, mate" can and does refer to anyone.
its the "look, mate.." you have to be wary of..
that doesnt really mean "mate" at all..
but then he is a boy and i am not..
(i didnt know the one about women older than you... but if a boy calls you "mate" then you certainly wont be )
Oh wow ...
Anyway, I think I'll abstain from using "mate". Like that I won't get myself into embarrassing trouble.
But I do like seeing it used between male "mates".
It is very commonly used in Oz - even so by females.
Mates Rates is an old Australian expression for giving better prices and service to people you care about – your mates.
Also see:
only for the cannabis clique, i thought that "bud" in the states was a common form of "mate"
I think bud/buddie is somewhat chummier, implies you actually like the person (or are in some way invested, same as pal - ironically, you can scold a kid saying "that's enough, buddie"). Dude is different - "I saw this weird dude"..
But we had a talk over dude, didn't we already.
Not sure about that mate ..
Anyway, this may explain better>