Boondocks
The term boondocks refers to a remote, usually brushy rural area;[1] or to a remote city or town that is considered unsophisticated.[2]
Contents |
[edit] Origins
The expression was introduced to English by American military personnel serving in the Philippines during the early years of the 20th century.[3][4] It derives from the Tagalog word "bundok", meaning "mountain".[5] According to military historian Paul Kramer, the term had attached to it "connotations of bewilderment and confusion", due to the guerrilla nature of the warfare in which the soldiers were engaged.[4]
"Bundok" as originally used by Filipinos is a colloquialism used to refer to rural areas. As major Filipino cities are all located near the coastline, rural areas inland are usually mountainous and difficult to access. Other equivalent terms used are the Spanish-derived "Probinsya" ('Province') and the Cebuano "Bukid" ('Mountain').[6] It is also used as a derogatory term referring to the stereotype of unsophisticated country people (Tagalog "Taga-bundok"/"Probinsyano", Cebuano "Taga-bukid" – literally 'Someone who comes from the mountains/province'). As an adjective, it can mean 'ignorant', 'uncultured', 'illiterate', or 'naive'.[7]
[edit] Expanded meanings
The term has evolved into American slang used to refer to the countryside or any implicitly isolated rural/wilderness area, regardless of topography or vegetation. Similar slang or colloquial words are "the sticks", "the wops" "the backblocks" or "Woop Woop" in Australia and New Zealand, "bundu" in South Africa, and "out in the tules" in California. The diminutive "the boonies" can be heard in films about the Vietnam War such as Brian De Palma's Casualties of War. It is used by American military personnel to designate rural areas of Vietnam.
Down in the Boondocks is a song written & produced by Joe South and sung by Billy Joe Royal. It was a hit in 1965. It tells the story of a young man who laments that people put him down because he was born in the boondocks. He is in love with the boss man's daughter and vows to work slavishly until, one day, he can "move from this old shack" and fit in her society. Throughout the song, he asks the "Lord [to] have mercy on the boy from down in the boondocks".
[edit] See also
[edit] References
- ^ Williams, Edwin B., ed (September 1991). The Scribner-Bantam English Dictionary (Revised ed.). Bantam Books. p. 105. ISBN 0553264966.
- ^ The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language. Boston: Houghton Mifflin.
- ^ Clay, Grady (1998). "Boondocks". Real Places. Chicago: University of Chicago Press. pp. 180–181. ISBN 0226109496. http://books.google.com/books?id=qfmnW94LS7YC&pg=PA180&dq=boondocks#PPA180,M1.
- ^ a b Kramer, Paul (2006). The Blood of Government. Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press. pp. 33–34. ISBN 0807856533.
- ^ Heller, Louis (1984). "boondocks". The Private Lives of English Words. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. p. 20. ISBN 0710200064. http://books.google.com/books?id=0KI9AAAAIAAJ&pg=PA20&dq=boondocks.
- ^ 'What A English' by Jon Joauin
- ^ Competence Matters: the Peter Principle Strikes the Philippines Over and Over
