boondoggle

Pronunciation

• IPA: /ˈbuːndɒɡl̩/ (UK); /ˈbundɑɡəl/ (US)^[1]

Etymology

It is said to have been coined by Robert H. Link, an American scoutmaster,^[2][3][4] as the name of a braided leather lanyard made by Boy Scouts.^[2][5][6][3] Contemporary accounts place the invention around 1928 in Rochester, New York.^[6] The name may be arbitrary, and Barnhart notes that cowboys also braided leather scraps.^[6][5]

Earliest recorded meaning

A braided cord worn by Boy Scouts as a neckerchief slide or hatband (1929 in Merriam-Webster; 1930 in Etymonline).^[3][6]

Semantic evolution

The Prince of Wales was given one by Rochester scouts at a jamboree in 1929, which brought the word to public notice.^[6] In April 1935 a dispute in New York City over New Deal relief programmes, in one of which men made boondoggles all day, made the word a byword for useless make-work.^[6][5] It has since meant any wasteful or pointless project, especially one paid for with public money.^[2][3][4]

Timeline

• 1929 – a scout's braided lanyard.^[3]
• 1935 – noun, useless or wasteful work.^[5][6][7]
• 1935 – verb, to do trivial work.^[7]

Modern meaning

Noun

1. Unnecessary, wasteful work or spending, often on a government project of no real value.
2. A braided cord or other simple handicraft made by scouts or campers.

Verb

1. To waste time or money on pointless work.
2. To deceive.

Word family

• boondoggler

References

1. ^ Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language (1992), 3rd ed., Boston: Houghton Mifflin
3. ^ a b c d e Merriam-Webster's Collegiate Dictionary (2003), 11th ed., Springfield, Mass.: Merriam-Webster
4. ^ a b Random House Webster's Unabridged Dictionary (1999), 2nd ed., New York: Random House
5. ^ a b c d Barnhart, Robert K., ed. (1995), The Barnhart Concise Dictionary of Etymology, New York: HarperCollins
6. ^ a b c d e f g Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
7. ^ a b Simpson, J. A.; Weiner, E. S. C., eds. (1989), The Oxford English Dictionary, 2nd ed., Oxford: Clarendon Press