BOONDOCKS

[Dr. Goodword]

• boondocks •

Pronunciation: buwn-dahks • Hear it!

Part of Speech: Noun, plural

Meaning: The hinterlands, backwoods, outback, a wild and remote place far from civilization or urban life.

Notes: We seldom hear the singular of this word. It's used only as an attributive with other nouns, such as boondock clothing, boondock maneuvers. This word is often shortened to just boonies. The other noun derived from this word, boondockers "shoes suitable for wearing in the wild", was shortened to simply Dockers®. It is now used to refer to a brand of shoes and other clothing manufactured by Levi-Strauss & Co., a company already known for making rugged clothing suitable for the wild.

In Play: The basic meaning of today's word is a wild, remote, backwoods location: "McMurphy learned how to make moonshine living in the boondocks of North Carolina all those years." Someone from the boondocks is presumed unknowledgeable: "Don't you even know how to spell phat? Do you come from the boondocks?"

Word History: Today's Good Word originally came from Tagalog (Pilipino) bundok "mountain". It was adopted by American soldiers occupying the Philippines during World War I. Since the mountains were remote from where our soldiers were stationed, they took bundoks to mean "wild remote place". The word was reinforced during the occupation of the Philippines in World War II. It is now firmly ensconced in all our vocabularies. (Charley Lowman must not have been raised in the boondocks or he would not have been able to submit such a fascinating Good Word as today's.)

[Perry Lassiter]

My son has a ranch in the sticks past the boondocks, with the nearest crossroads named "Birthright." Or is it in the boondocks past the sticks? just don't know.

Learned a couple of commercial facts today. I had assumed Dockers came as synonymous with pier, since my first acquaintance was with their boat shoes. Neither did I connect them to Levi-Strauss, although I own a pair of Dockers pants.

[LukeJavan8]

I 'd consider the entire state I live in to be the boondocks.
Redneck land of the lame home of the stupid.

[Perry Lassiter]

That seems a bit harsh. Off your feed today?

[LukeJavan8]

Nope. Thought of moving out dozens of times,
but no more motivation. Former senator and governor
out of state for last decade plus years is coming back
with his new family, who have never been here, and
he's going to run for Senate. Gone for over a decade
and he registers on the last day possible to do so
listing his sister's house as his own. Probably will
be elected because everyone is so clueless as to his
last performance in the senate. About as ridiculous
as the current national campaign.

[Perry Lassiter]

Nahhh. Try LA. I remember the time we had to choose between Edwin Edwards and the KKK for governor.

[LukeJavan8]

Wow! that must have been serious.

[bamaboy56]

Luke says:

Redneck land of the lame home of the stupid.

Never thought of citizens of the Land of the Flat Water as rednecks. At least not like the ones you might see around my neck of the woods! I will say this: when I moved here and heard the term being used, it was a mark of honor and the recipient was proud to be called one. Didn't matter if you were male or female. It meant you were tough and capable of taking care of yourself. Go figure.

[LukeJavan8]

I can totally understand that concept. Even movies
make that out to be true. Here it is commonly
thought of as backward: tires and dead cars in
your front yard, up on cement blocks; old sofas
on porch; beer bottles everywhere. That sort of
image. We are the only state with only one house
in the legislature. It is a sort of House of Reps, elected
by district, but they call themselves "senators",
too lazy for two houses.

My "Land of Flat Water" is to honor the Natives before
the colonials came. "Nebraska" is Omaha (a tribe: Uh-ma-ha)
for "flat water", for the Platte River. "Platte" is a
bastardized word for "flat". Uh-ma-ha means '
"Up River People".

[bamaboy56]

Interesting! I knew NE was known as the Land of the Flat Water but found an outfitter in North Carolina called Flat Water Outfitters, which kind of threw me off. Anyway, got that straightened out. Around here the kind of person you described (cars on blocks, old sofas on porch, etc.) would be called by a more disparaging name than redneck. The term "white trash" (no offense meant, ya'll) comes to mind. That's two totally different kinds of people.

[LukeJavan8]

True enough. That term fits, but the rednecks are
probably next door neighbors.

[LukeJavan8]

I have a fantastic picture of a redneck resort, wish I
knew how to post pictures.

[bamaboy56]

You could probably do it by posting it as a link. Just a thought. I had to laugh at the mental picture I had about your "redneck resort". It probably looks like my house or else the house of someone I know.

[LukeJavan8]

I would not know how to post it as a link.
I get very confused even with directions. Slava gave me
some one time and I got so lost.
Actually the picture is a number of trailers, RV's and
campers, one on top of the other, at odd angles, with
no order. They are about four high, abut each other, with
roofs of some as porches of the other. Wheels are
gone or used as places to plant flowers, etc. Wonderful.

[misterdoe]

I have a fantastic picture of a redneck resort, wish I knew how to post pictures.

Wonder if it's anything like The Last Resort, a former attraction in Myrtle Beach, SC, whose restaurant served your order on wax paper instead of plates.