by Doggie S on June 11th, 2008

Doggie S

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What is the origin of the term "boondocks"?

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  • by Rollie on October 18th, 2009

    Rollie

    This word originated in Philippines

    If you're out in the boondocks, linguistically speaking, you're much more distant than the sticks, the backwoods, the hinterland, or the bush. In fact, you're in the Philippines. That's where the boondocks came from, during the American occupation that began with the defeat of Spain in 1898. In Tagalog, the national language of the Philippines, bondoc means "mountain," and the term was used first by the occupying U.S. military to mean the Philippine mountains ... or jungle ... or remote area of any sort. By 1909 it was already in Webster's New International Dictionary with those meanings. But in English it remained largely military slang until the 1960s. The Marine Corps especially made use of boondocks. During World War II the Marines began calling their heavy combat boots boondockers, and they have worn that name ever since.

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