Use of "buddy"

Why do some people, even those you meet for the first time, call you "buddy"?

The dictionary meaning of this word is similar to "friend".

Why do familar or unfamiliar people you're not even friends with sometimes address you by that word?

Today, while I was waiting at the bus stop, I dropped my hat. Someone beside me picked it up and gave it to me, saying, "Here you go, buddy."
I felt weird being called "buddy" by someone I never saw before.

By the way, I live in Canada.

In the US, "Buddy" can be friendly or not-so-friendly, but friendly.


Buddy, that is NONE of your business.

Or

Let me help you with that, buddy.

Don't get worked up over this.

To me it feels patronizing to be called "buddy" by someone I hardly know.

You hear buddy a lot more frequently in Canada than in the US... Though you'd find it in the same context.

It's similar to being called "bro" in CA, "bra" in Hawaii, or "man" anywhere else

In Britain the term "buddy" is never used - at least, I've never heard it used EXCEPT by Americans (as when I was at uni) over here who I definitely knew to be Americans and not Canadians. I suppose Canadians use it as well, being North Americans themselves, but I've never thought about that really - I always associate it with Americans proper. I never really know whether it's used in a genuinely friendly way or not! Anyway, it will never catch on over here that's for sure. We use the universal "mate" - that IS used in a friendly way ....male to male.

Guid nicht! Hae a guid weekend.

At least around here in Wisconsin, "buddy" is not used much at all (both positively and negatively), and "bro" and "man" are primary used by AAVE-speakers.

Here in Southern Illinois it's fairly common to hear people, especially older men, use "buddy" in a friendly way to either their friends (buddies!) or complete strangers. My Grandpa calls everyone buddy whether he knows them or not! Young guys and girls usually refer to their friends as their buddies. But when actually addressing someone, they'll usually say man, dude, bud, or girl (if it's a girl of course =)

Buddy is used the same way in the US that mate is used elsewhere, and its casual use in no way implies long-term friendship or intimacy -- it's just a generic term.