Talk:Boondocks

Origin of the term "boondocks"

The term boondock(s) entered the English language around the turn of the 20^th century when it was borrowed from the Tagalog word bundók which means mountain.
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HISTORICAL FOOTNOTE: The idea behind this term shares much in common with the term hillbilly. Around the world, many cultures have often viewed those living in mountainous regions as somewhat "outsiders" (mga dayuhan). Indeed, merely visiting one of them would require quite a hike (paglakád). A perhaps less pejorative term for the Bergbewohner (if you will) is mountaineer, as it has far fewer negative connotations and can often imply a character of great dexterity and daring—that is, to go "mountaineering" (pamumundók or pag-aakyát ng bundók).

—Strabismus 08:37, 23 March 2006 (UTC)

I was told it referred to slavery: The docks where Boons (as in baboons ie slaves) were unloaded. The essential question is the word Docks. Surely this has to do with shipping....shipping what?

A vice president at Navy Federal Credit Union told me that the phrase came from some historical shipping docks that once existed in Georgetown, Washington D.C. Georgetown is the furthest point upstream which ocean going ships could reach. The docks in Georgetown were mostly related to the tobacco business but there was a lot of slave trade in Georgetown, so perhaps the person above's reference to slavery is not incorrect. A prominent dock owner was named Boone. According to my source, most ships would stop at docks that were downstream in Washington, but some ships had to go "all the way out to the Boone docks." Reldkamp (talk) 16:37, 14 August 2015 (UTC)