Boondock

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For the comic strip, see The Boondocks.

The boondocks is a remote, usually brushy rural area, the sticks. The word is derived from the Tagalog language of Luzon, Philippines. The word bunduk (Bisayan Bukid) meaning "hinterland", i.e., land area inland, away from the shore. It also carries the implication that it is "backward" or "unsophisticated"; hence taga bunduk lit. "people who live in the hinterland": i.e., people who are backward or unsophisticated.

The expression developed among American military serving in the Philippines during the early years of the 20th century. It is derived from the Tagalog word for mountain, bundok. In demographics the boondocks is a hardscrabble rural district characterized by backwardness. It may also refer to suburbs in general, regardless of the geology, vegitation or general class status of the area being referred to.

A diminutive form, '"the boonies" exists. Equipment suitable for traveling in the boondocks has been referred to as "boondockers".

Boondock is considered by some to be an inherently funny word.

A boondock has also come to mean a slight rise in elevation found in vegetated sandy landscapes such as Colorado's San Luis Valley. Wind action on sand causes erosion on unvegetated terrain and deposition on the vegetated terrain which gradually rise in elevation becoming low mounds perhaps 5 feet above the surrounding country. Boondocks are favored by burrowing animals such as coyotes for their holes.