Why Do We Call the Country “the Boonies”? We have the military to thank.

[MULTIZ321]

Why Do We Call the Country “the Boonies”?​

We have the military to thank.

Why Do We Call the Country “the Boonies”?

We have the military to thank.

www.mentalfloss.com

Richard

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

Very sloppy writing - looks like a piece slapped together to meet a deadline.

While boondocks may have originated from Tagalag, by 1960 it was in common civilian usage, at least where I grew up in Minnesota. Even generated a hit single for Billy Joe Royal in 1965. Boondocks, often shortened to boonies, was common vernacular for out of the way, neglected, seldom visited regions. It didn't even have to be rural; urban regions could also have fringe boonie regions; seldom visited, and always neglected and disregarded (along with the inhabitants).

 

[easyrider]

I didn't read the article. It seems like since I was 10 the reason we called the far away places the Boonies was because Daniel Boone was the man that explored the far away places and he had a weekly TV show to prove it, lol.

Bill

 

[DrQ]

While boondocks may have originated from Tagalag, by 1960 it was in common civilian usage, at least where I grew up in Minnesota

We would go fishing every year up at Wheeler's point on Lake of the Woods. The "boonies" was the drive north of Red Lake on MN 72 to MN 11 through that flat expanse of peat bogs in the northland.

 

[T_R_Oglodyte]

We would go fishing every year up at Wheeler's point on Lake of the Woods. The "boonies" was the drive north of Red Lake on MN 72 to MN 11 through that flat expanse of peat bogs in the northland.

Anything north of Brainerd and west of Lake Superior was the boonies. My brother, who graduated from Bemidji State, did his student teaching at Ball Club, near Leech Lake. That was indisputably in the boonies.

 

[easyrider]

Daniel Boone lived in Boonesborrow which was way out in the Boonies.

Bill