It is always great to re-watch a favorite movie for the umpteenth time and still find something new. This happened to me when I was watching the Big Lebowski last month. During a scene maybe 2/3 of the way through the movie, the Dude is talking to the private investigator hired by Bunny Lebowski’s family. The PI refers to Maude Lebowski, who is interested in the Dude solely for reasons of procreation, as the Dude’s “special lady friend.” The Dude quickly corrects him, calling Maude the Dude’s “fucking lady friend.”
In all my prior viewings, I thought this was the Dude using profanity for emphasis, which would not be out of character for the Dude (see the “Fucking Short Version” of the movie, below). However, I now believe that the Dude is actually distinguishing between those lady friends that are special (relationship) and those that are just for fornication. Leave it to the Dude to finely parse language in the midst of a confrontation.