boondocks n : a remote and undeveloped area [syn: backwoods, back country, hinterland]

English

Etymology

bundok (mountain).

Noun

boondocks

1. A very rural location or town.

   We got lost out in the boondocks, miles from anywhere.

Translations

See also

• boonies
• (the) sticks
• backwoods
• backwater
• middle of nowhere
• Eckveldt (Yiddish)

The boondocks is a remote, usually brushy rural area; or a term for a remote city or town that is considered unsophisticated.

The expression was introduced to English by American military personnel serving in the Philippines during the early years of the 20th century. It derives from the Tagalog word "bundok", meaning "mountain".

Boondocks or diminutively "the boonies" has since evolved into a more general American slang term for "the country" or any rural/wilderness location in general, regardless of topography or vegetation that is isolated and away from "the action" or the comforts and variety of urban life. A similar word, bundu is part of South African Slang. Equipment suitable for traveling in the boondocks has been jokingly referred to as "boondockers," as contrasted with Dockers brand dress-pants.

A common synonym for "the boondocks" is "the sticks".

References

China, Darkest Africa, God knows where, Greenland, North Pole, Outer Mongolia, Pago Pago, Pillars of Hercules, Siberia, South Pole, Thule, Tierra del Fuego, Timbuktu, Ultima Thule, Yukon, afforestation, antipodes, arboretum, back country, backcountry, backwash, backwater, backwoods, boondock, borderland, brush, bush, bush country, bushveld, chase, climax forest, cloud forest, dendrology, forest, forest land, forest preserve, forestry, forests, fringing forest, frontier, gallery forest, godforsaken place, greenwood, hanger, hinterland, index forest, jumping-off place, jungle, jungles, national forest, nowhere, outback, outer space, outpost, outskirts, palmetto barrens, park, park forest, pine barrens, pole, primeval forest, protection forest, rain forest, reforestation, scrub, scrubland, selection forest, shrubland, silviculture, sprout forest, stand of timber, state forest, sticks, the Great Divide, the South Seas, the boondocks, the bush, the moon, the sticks, the tullies, timber, timberland, timbers, tree veld, uninhabited region, up-country, virgin forest, virgin land, virgin territory, wasteland, wild West, wilderness, wilds, wildwood, wood, woodland, woodlands, woods