He laughs. Dude sounds most gender-neutral to him when rendered slightly flat and nasal in the Angelene fast drawl—the barest hint of British in Crysta's accent still throws him sometimes. It's not Crysta, it's his own regional chauvinism. "Gender equality, rigidly construed. Respect."

Jack looks around. "There are a lot of dudes here, though," he says. Slight emphasis on 'dudes' to denote he is not using the word in the gender-neutral sense. Annie sure does collect dudes. He laughs again.