Few know “boondocks” is a relic of U.S. military occupation in the Philippines.

Seth Dixon‘s insight:

I imaged that the term ‘the boondocks’ was of Asian origin, but I was surprised to learn how this U.S. military lingo was able to become a mainstream term.  The Tagalog word bundok means mountain and given that the guerrilla warfare tactics, the enemies were hiding ‘in the boondocks.’ This term spread throughout the military to mean an isolated region, but today the term completely shifted from its military-based meaning to one that embraced the American heartland.  This is a fascinating article from NPR’s Code Switch team that focuses on issues of culture, identity and race. 


Tags: language, toponyms, historical, conflict, culture, diffusion.

See on www.npr.org