(The U.S. Department of State's Office of the Historian notes that American soldiers would burn entire villages down, torture suspected militants and force civilians to live in camps.). The diminutive itself seems to have gained concurrence during the Vietnam war among American soldiers to denote rural areas of Vietnam. It comes from the Chinese kutu - ku ("to knock") plus tu ("head") - and originally referred to kneeling and touching one's head to the ground as a salute or act of worship to a revered authority. ", As the Schadenfreude song from Avenue Q puts it: "And when I see how sad you are / It sort of makes me / Happy! Karaoke, the beloved/hated entertainment that involves non-professional singers performing without live bands, has a poetic-sounding origin: "empty orchestra.". Derived forms In the Vietnam era, it was commonplace to refer to rough areas as "the boonies," and the word caught on for rural places stateside as well. McKeon died in 2003 at the age of 79. Our most popular newsletter for destination inspiration, travel tips, trip itineraries, and everything else you need to be an expert traveler in this beautiful world, In Tasmania, Bushwalks Help Conserve Native Flora, Discovering Centuries of Assam Culture on a Brahmaputra River Cruise in India, The History Behind Saint Lucia's Indian Cuisineand Where to Find It, Famed for Its Diving, Bonaire Is a Paradise for Birders, Too, A Nature Lover's Guide to Camping in Redwood National and State Parks, Redwood National and State Parks Guide: The Best Tree-Lined Hikes, Camping, and Cycling Routes. It was reinforced or re-adopted during World War II. The sergeant then jumped into the creek and ordered the recruits to follow, forcing them to march across the creek with him. Based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, Random House, Inc. 2023, Collins English Dictionary - Complete & Unabridged 2012 Digital Edition Both versions of the term are exclusively used with the article the, as in the boondocks and the boonies; unless the word is used as a title, name, or other proper noun. bun-doc. After the massive crossover eruptions of the 1960smost famously that of Berry Gordys Motown Records, but also the Southern soul juggernauts of Memphis and Muscle Shoalsby the end of that decade American pop had again become increasingly segregated. Jack Hamilton, Black Camera (Bloomington, Ind. Last year Boyd was transferred to Haynesville Correctional Center, a medium-security prison deep in the Virginia boondocks. "Boondocks" soon became American military slang for the countryside, the jungle, the sticks. And. Any opinions expressed in the examples do not represent those of Merriam-Webster or its editors. Royal's song reflects the rural American associations most people have with the term to this day. That this treatment had become fodder for comedy, most notably on The Dave Chappelle Show and The Boondocks, was appalling. For example, an Op-Ed piece in the New York Times described a London mayoral candidate as, "a lifelong left-wing activist, a local government apparatchik, a consummate manipulator of subcommittees and votes of confidence.". ", There really seems to be this huge kerfuffle as far as surprises from the water company, she said. Sarah Elms, The Blade (Toledo, OH), 21 May 2021, Chutzpah comes from the Yiddish khutspe, meaning "impudence.". The Philippine-American War immediately followed a year later and would continue until 1902. It aired on January 21, 2008. they don't trace back to Latin - that sound almost the same in the original. A juggernaut is something (such as a force, campaign, or movement) that is huge and powerful and can't be stopped. They go on a quest to wipe out Boston of its evil and corrupt criminals. [3][4] It derives from the Tagalog word "bundk",[note 1] which means "mountain". Boondocks is also a word from the early 20th century: it comes from the Tagalog word for a mountain, and was brought to English by the U.S. military forces who had occupied the Philippines at the beginning of the 20th century. In American English, chutzpah describes a particular kind of nerve, or gall. A few months later, the January issue of Leatherneck includes the word without quotation marks, again in reference to Nicaragua: The enlisted men of the hospital corps are widely scattered, part of them here at the field hospital and the rest scattered throughout the Boondocks, following the bull carts with rations, patrols, etc. boondocks n. Lighter, Jonathan, ed. "The S-Word" is the eleventh episode of the second season of The Boondocks. I thought about smearing ketchup on the envelope, but I didn't want the United States postal inspectors charging me with sending biohazards through the mail.1 Norris Burkes, Springfield News-Leader (Springfield, MO), 8 Sept. 2018. The Boondocks is an animated comedy series produced by Sony Pictures Television based on the newspaper comic strip of the same name that was created by Aaron McGruder, who serves as the executive producer and main writer. Cond Nast Traveler does not provide medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. They are in the boondocks with no decent roads, the internet is out and the weather is godawful. Margaret Cannon, The Globe and Mail (Toronto, Can. Used by servicemen during World War II, the word boondocks first came to the attention of the American public during an investigation into the brutal methods of training used by the . That same kara also appears in karate: "empty" + te ("hand"). "remote and wild place," 1910s, from Tagalog bundok "mountain." There are always several meanings of each word in Urdu, the correct meaning of Boondocks in Urdu is deyhaat/jagal, and in roman we write it Deyhaat / Jagal. British English imported lots of words from its far-flung colonial possessions, but American colonial aspirations primarily produced words derived from Mexican Spanish or North American and Hawaiian indigenous languages. 2023 Cond Nast. Lord have mercy on a soldier out in the boondocks. Translation Context Grammar Check Synonyms Conjugation. In Nomeni Patri Et Fili Spiritus Sancti.". Today, the real bundoks aren't the country shacks you're picturing from "Down in the Boondocks," or the endless suburbs where the characters in the comic strip (and TV show) The Boondocks live. Hence, also boondockers "shoes suited for rough terrain," originally (1944) U.S. services slang word for field boots. One moose, two moose. The show The Boondocks is an animated satirical comedy that was based off of a comic strip of the same name created by Aaron McGruder, who is also the head writer and executive producer of the show. That dictionary clearly indicates that the word is a foreign one and not yet completely Anglicized, but notes it is used colloquially. Why did you take this on? All Things Considered (transcript with Daniel Estrin & Abbi Jacobson), 6 Aug. 2022. The word remained largely within the province of the Marine Corps until the Vietnam War. Boondocks (and boonies) both mean "a rural area," particularly one considered backward, dull, or unsophisticated. It made its way into English during the U.S. occupation of that island nation following the Spanish-American War. In this week's Maphead, Ken Jennings discovers the origin of "the boonies" and where to actually find them around the world. The first boondocks weren't in Maine or Ohio or Iowa. Washington: Government Printing Office, 1905, 44. William Collins Sons & Co. Ltd. 1979, 1986 HarperCollins Historical Comparancy Parts of speech for Boondocks noun adjective verb adverb pronoun preposition conjunction determiner exclamation In contrast, the U.S. Army was about seven times larger. docks (boondks) pl.n. It comes from the Japanese kara ("empty") + ke, short for kesutora ("orchestra"). In English, the boondocks are any remote and isolated place. In 1905, as part of that occupation, a U.S. Army officer, W.E.W. Also, in colloq. In the late 18th century, some Western nations resisted performing the ritual, which acknowledged the Chinese emperor as the "son of heaven.". The strip followed the stories of two young boys who leave the South Side of Chicago to live with their grandfather in a sleepy and predominantly white suburb in Maryland. While the word means "mountain" to the people of the Philippines, American soldiers extended the meaning to any kind of rough country or out-of-the-way locale. This summer in Alberta, Ramona Big Head, a middle-school principal on the Kainai Nation, was called a "squ-w" by an Alberta Health Services employee. Etymology of boondocks. Online Etymology Dictionary. ", Some might wonder why soldiers picked up on the Tagalog word for mountain, rather than another term. He is Huey Freeman's younger brother and Robert Freeman's youngest grandson. His boss, who he admires, is waiting to meet with him about the big project. the boondocks: [plural noun] an area that is not close to any towns or cities. Probably comes from when the GIs were in the Philippines. The scandal of the Ribbon Creek drownings splashed the word "boondocks" into the headlines for months. We thought he was kidding, because we were all laughing. [6] Equivalent terms include the Spanish-derived probinsiya ("province") and the Cebuano term bukid ("mountain"). The U.S. seized the Philippines from Spain in 1898, and from 18991902 fought and won an insurgency against Filipino resisters. American soldiers stationed in the Philippines adopted the word in the early 1900s, shifting the meaning to refer to "an isolated or wild region. Living in the boondocksthat is, the outskirts, the hinterlands, the rural or backwater side of the tracksis what dooms Billy Joe's love affair with the rich little girl from the "house up on the hill." Prior to World War II, the Corps was quite small, numbering less than 20,000 marines for most of this period (compared to about 660,000 during WWII or 180,000 today). More than 250,000 words that aren't in our free dictionary The Boondocks was a smart, politically savvy, and funny cartoon series. Boondocking refers to camping with a recreational vehicle (RV) in a remote location without the electricity, water, or sewer infrastructure that is available at campgrounds or RV parks. A mountain. Wiktionary To stay in a recreational vehicle in a remote location, without connections to water, power, or sewer services. 4, Rare and Amusing Insults: Cockalorum, Snollygoster, and More, 'Couple,' 'Few,' and 'Several': The (Mostly) Definitive Guide. Ad Choices. The word derives from bundoc, from the Filipino Tagalog dialect that actually . However, few people realize that the phrase is a relic of American military occupation in the Philippines, and that it was later brought to mainstream attention because of a now largely forgotten, fatal training accident on Parris Island. Cond Nast Traveler may earn a portion of sales from products that are purchased through our site as part of our Affiliate Partnerships with retailers. Many English words come from other languages, but this list highlights some of our favorites from non-Romance languages - i.e. So I got to say, it takes some serious chutzpah to say, yeah, let's do a remake of, like the most beloved baseball film in history. Lord have mercy on a soldier out in the boondocks. One goose, two geese. S-word. The Boondocks Season 3 Episode 13A fast food promotion crosses with a plague of biblical proportions.#boondocks #video #shorts Does The Boondocks take place in Chicago? The origin of the phrase "call a spade a spade" is a little more unclear. For more than half a century, Americans have used the phrase "the boondocks" or "the boonies" to indicate that a place was in the middle of nowhere. Entries where "boondocks" occurs: meal: Noun meal (neut.) Nothing good, it seems, can come from the boondocks. Published Feb 23, 2020. Accessed 18 Apr. The word "boondocks" was frequently used in the coverage of the incident, with newspapers noting that McKeon led his platoon "out into the boondocks and eventually into tragedy. The original boondocks were the Cordillera Central, the spiny mountain range in the north part of the Philippine island of Luzon. In the 19th century "carfuffle" became a noun, and in the mid-20th century it was embraced by a broader population of English speakers and standardized to "kerfuffle. When letters make sounds that aren't associated w One goose, two geese. Following the Philippine Revolution of 1898, the occupying American military forces adopted "boondocks" and broadened its meaning to refer to the wild and rural country they found there. I got tired of living in the boonies, so I started renting an apartment right in the heart of the city. A homonyms is a word which has two different meaning. BFE or Bumblefuck, Egypt (also Bumfuck, Egypt, Butt Fuck, Egypt, or Beyond Fucking Egypt) refers to an unspecified remote location or destination, assumed to be arduous to travel to, unpleasant to visit and/or far away from anything of interest to the speaker (e.g. In fact, the word comes directly from the Tagalog word bundok, meaning "mountain." Detail of Bayeux Tapestry: William at the battle of Hastings. 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