boondoggle English · revision 2114

+ ==Pronunciation==

+ * IPA: /ˈbuːndɒɡl̩/ ''(UK)''; /ˈbundɑɡəl/ ''(US)''^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ==Etymology==

+ It is said to have been coined by Robert H. Link, an American scoutmaster,^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU) as the name of a braided leather lanyard made by Boy Scouts.^(AHD)^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(MW Collegiate) Contemporary accounts place the invention around 1928 in Rochester, New York.^(Etymonline) The name may be arbitrary, and Barnhart notes that cowboys also braided leather scraps.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995)

+

+ ==Earliest recorded meaning==

+ A braided cord worn by Boy Scouts as a neckerchief slide or hatband (1929 in Merriam-Webster; 1930 in Etymonline).^(MW Collegiate)^(Etymonline)

+

+ ==Semantic evolution==

+ The Prince of Wales was given one by Rochester scouts at a jamboree in 1929, which brought the word to public notice.^(Etymonline) 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.^(Etymonline)^(Barnhart 1995) It has since meant any wasteful or pointless project, especially one paid for with public money.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)

+

+ ==Timeline==

+ * 1929 – a scout's braided lanyard.^(MW Collegiate)

+ * 1935 – noun, useless or wasteful work.^(Barnhart 1995)^(Etymonline)^(OED 1989)

+ * 1935 – verb, to do trivial work.^(OED 1989)

+

+ ==Modern meaning==

+ ===Noun===

+ # Unnecessary, wasteful work or spending, often on a government project of no real value.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # A braided cord or other simple handicraft made by scouts or campers.^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+

+ ===Verb===

+ # To waste time or money on pointless work.^(AHD)^(MW Collegiate)^(RHWU)^(Wiktionary)

+ # To deceive.^(RHWU)

+

+ ==Word family==

+ * [[boondoggler]]

+

+ ==References==

+ {{reflist}}