Out in the Boondocks: History of the Phrase

Have you ever felt like you were in the boondocks or heard someone refer to a location or area as such? Have you ever wondered WHY it was called such a curious name?

Photo by MobilFunk7

Bundok is the word for "mountain" in Tagalog, the Indonesian language of the Phillipines. But during the U.S. occupation there, American soldiers extended its meaning to include any rough back country with wild terrain difficult for troops to penetrate, corrupting the word to boondocks in the process. After World War II, Marines brought boondocks home with them and it became the name for difficult terrain on the fringes of training camps, where recruits were often taken on long bivouacs. These remote areas naturally suggested the "sticks," rural areas where there is similarly little to do but work and be bored, and boondocks began to be applied to them as well. The word is most frequently heard in the expression out in the boondocks, way out in the sticks.

About fifteen million people, one-quarter of the population of the Philippines, speak Tagalog. It belongs to the Malayo-Polynesian branch of the Austronesian language family. The official language of the Philippines is a version of Tagalog with a more inclusive vocabulary, called Pilipino or Filipino. Pilipino, introduced in the 1970s, was so close to Tagalog that speakers of other Philippine languages protested. In response, in the 1980s the government allowed more non-Tagalog words and changed the name. Filipino's broader scope is indicated by its initial F, which was not in the original Tagalog alphabet but imported from Spanish.