Boondocks

BOONDOCKS
Think about this!

• Did you know that asa, salita, balita, karma, mukha, guro,
dalita, hari, are borrowed from the Sanskrit/Indian
language?
• b. Can you enumerate words that have enriched our
Philippine languages by foreign language borrowings?
• i. From Spanish – ventana, sinturon, kutsilyo, mesa,
primero, segundo, tercero, singko, derecho, canta, obra,
premio, etc.
• ii. Indonesian/Malay – gunting, payong, anak, halo halo,
lima,’ and salamat.
• iii. American – kontraktwal, empleyado, burger,
barbecue, keyk, klase, riserts, etc.
(We simply tagalized the spelling!)
And this!
• a. Did you know that on June 26, 2015, forty-one

Filipino words and expressions were added to the
Oxford English Dictionary?
• Examples: barong, bahala na, barkada, barangay, KKB,
kikay, suki, pulutan, etc.
• b. How about Filipino words that have been
Americanized?
• cooties (from kuto or head lice), carabao (from

kalabaw), machin (matsing), calamondin
(kalamunding, a citrus tree), and boondocks (bundok)
Boondocks
From An Avalanche of Anoraks
• (1) Reading material comes from Malay bamboo, “a large, hollow bamboo.” The young
shoots are eaten as a vegetable or are pickled and candied. Some species of bamboo
grow to a height of 120 feet.
• (2) Boondocks (1944), a remote rural area, back country, an isolated or wild region filled
with dense brush, comes from Tagalog bundok, “mountain.” An “s” was added, since
English has the tendency to affix that letter to locations, as in the sticks (a synonym for the
boondocks), the damps, and the woods. While the word means “mountain” to the people
of the Philippines, American soldiers extended the meaning to any kind of rough country
or out-of-the-way locale. Used by servicemen during World War II, the word boondocks
first came to the attention of the American public during an investigation into the brutal
methods of training used by the Marines at Camp Lejeune in North Carolina. According to
the official records, young recruits were regularly subjected to forced night marches “into
the boondocks” (of places like Paris Island), which included some low-lying swampy
areas where at least one Marine recruit died. The investigation ended, but the word
remained. Its infamous history all but forgotten, the word boondocks is now synonymous
with any rural area distant from the excitement of big cities or large towns. By the 1950s,
shoes suitable for rough outdoor use were regularly called boondockers, as can be seen
from Leon Uris’s adventurepacked novel of World War II Marines, Battle Cry: “Andy
Hookans was dumping a can of footpowder into his boondockers.” About the same time,
boonies had become the slang equivalent of the boondocks.
Definitions
Purposes:
• 1. To clarify meaning of words, or to correct
misinterpretations, or misuse of a term.
• 2. To stipulate the meaning of a term by limiting,
extending, or redirecting the sense in which a term
is usually understood; to use a term, borrowed from
another field of knowledge, in a special way.
• Ex: “Window dressing” – used to make a shop

window more attractive to buyers.
• stipulatively used in a false banking report to
deceptively project an impression of economic
stability or financial growth
Techniques
1. Formal – follows a pattern or equation:
term + genus + differentia (differentiating
characteristics)
Ex. A robot is a machine that looks like a human being
and performs complex acts of a human being
(Webster)
2. By synonym- using a word or phrase that shares a
meaning with the term being defined. Ex: Hashish –
marijuana.
3. By origin or semantic history – Ex. Yoga comes from the
Sanskrit “to join”
Techniques
4. By Illustration – Ex: Known for their shedding
their leaves in the fall, deciduous trees include
oaks, maples, and beeches.
5. By function – Ex: A thermometer measures
temperature change.
6. By analysis (Breaking down wholes into parts,
aspects into levels, and a process into steps)
Ex: The republican form of government has
three branches: the executive, the legislative,
and the judiciary.
Techniques
7. By likeness or similarity – Ex: Brighter than 100million
suns, quasars stand like beacons on the shore of the
universe…
8. By analogy or metaphor –Ex: The germs and bacteria
or antigens are like a gang of villains invading our
body, attacking our unseen defenders, the layers of
macrophages, cytokines, and lymphocytes,
9. By contrast- use of opposites
Ex: Unlike those of gas, the particles of plasma are
electrically charged.
10. By negation – stating what a term is not.
Ex: Wild rice, an American delicacy, is not rice at all but the
seed of a tall aquatic grass.
Unlocking Verbal Difficulties
1. Back country - sparsely inhabited rural

areas; wilderness.
2. Infamous- extremely bad reputation
Main idea and supporting ideas
• Point out that the concept, a Tagalog-borrowed
word has been modified, and made part of the
English language. What is the main idea
(thesis) of the text? What are the supporting
details?
• 1. Thesis - Boondocks refers to a remote rural
isolated or even wild area.
• 2. Supporting detail 1- Borrowed from the
Tagalog word, bundok, meaning mountain, the
word now refers to any rough country, with the
letter-s added to make it refer to locations.
• 3. Supporting detail 2 -Earlier used by the
U.S servicemen during the world war to refer
to the remote swampy areas used for training,
it later referred to distant, rural areas.
• 4. Supporting detail 3 - Boondockers, a
derivative, are shoes suitable for rough
terrain.
• 5. Supporting detail 4- Boonies became
the slang equivalent of boondocks.
• A. Structure
• The short text is a mini concept paper
that consists of a core definition
clarifying the meaning of the term,
boondocks, and the expansion of this
core definition. Study the chart below.
• The expansions of the core definition consists of
• the origin of the term from the Tagalog word;
• the Americanized version which adds –s to the
word, in keeping with the American way of
referring to locations (as in the woods, the
damps.);
• the popular use of the term by American soldiers
for remote training areas;
• the unpleasant linkage of the term to an
investigation into the death of a recruit;
• and the later day use of the term without that
infamous
• Did you know that these words have
been included in the Oxford English
Dictionary (OED)? Where and how have
we used kikay? Do you know the little
stories behind our own use of these
words?
• Ask each student to examine two of the
Tagalog loan words below, now included
in the Oxford English Dictionary (OED).
• Make the students write a brief paragraph
narrating their mini- stories, starting from their
original use in Tagalog/Filipino, their new coined
forms, if any, the probable reason for their having
been included in the OED (when other words have
not), and end the paragraphs with their new
meanings found in the OED. (There may also be a
semantic change, when new meanings are
assigned to existing words. For instance, how did
the word salvage, acquire its new meaning, “to
execute summarily,” a far cry from the usual
meaning, “to rescue”? )
Balikbayan
Examples:
Balikbayan literally means “return (balik) to one’s
country (bayan). The compound word was coined from
the earlier practice of Filipinos immigrating to Hawaii for
work, then returning to the Philippines to retire with
ample savings. Anyone who had gone to work abroad
and returns to the country, whether temporarily or
permanently, is now a balikbayan. Although generally
connoting an elderly but moneyed returning immigrant,
today, it also means a richer returning OFW. Also, it can
be used with “box” as a modifier (i.e., balikbayan box) to
refer to a box of presents either as arrival gifts for
relatives and friends, or as a special package of clothes,
small appliances, and goodies sent by an overseas
worker to the family on Christmas, or other occasion.
• 1. kikay
• 2. gimmick
• 3. barangay
• 4. kuya
• 5. suki
• 6. salvage

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BOONDOCKS

Think about this!

• a. Did you know that on June 26, 2015, forty-one

• cooties (from kuto or head lice), carabao (from

• Ex: “Window dressing” – used to make a shop

1. Back country - sparsely inhabited rural

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