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tomnoddy_uk
Fire-eater
Joined: Mar 14, 2006
Posts: 2907
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 Posted:
July 26, 2006 - 02:47 PM |
 
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| Post subject: boondoggles |
I understand this means doing something meaningless just for the sake of it. Is this correct?
Howdo I use it in a sentence?
There are many boondoggles in a Communist society as they don't believe in unemployment?
Many thanks, |
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shanghaiceltic
Board Royalty
Joined: Sep 20, 2005
Posts: 7614
Location: Perth WA
Status: Offline
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| Posted:
July 26, 2006 - 03:20 PM |
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An unnecessary or wasteful project.
This typically North American term is often applied in two specific ways, either to describe work of little or no value done merely to appear busy, or in reference to a government-funded project with no purpose other than political patronage. It can also be used for an unnecessary journey by a government official at public expense.
Part of its oddity lies in its sudden emergence into public view in an article in the New York Times on 4 April 1935. This had the headline “$3,187,000 Relief is Spent to Teach Jobless to Play ... Boon Doggles Made”. The “boon doggles” of the headline turn out to be small items of leather, rope and canvas, which were being crafted by the jobless during the Great Depression as a form of make-work. The article said that the word was “simply a term applied back in the pioneer days to what we call gadgets today”. It was suggested that boondoggles were small items of leatherwork which were made by cowboys on idle days as decorations for their saddles.
The name of Robert H Link, a scoutmaster of Rochester, also often turns up when people write about this word. It is sometimes said that he invented it, certainly that he used it for the braided leather lanyards made and worn by Boy Scouts, or for other small craft projects intended to keep Scouts out of mischief.
Whatever its origin, it was the article in the New York Times that converted boondoggle from a word existing quietly in its own little world to one of public importance.
Found on this site:
http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-boo1.htm |
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I have parrallel bars at home, one for gin and one for whiskey |
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tomnoddy_uk
Fire-eater
Joined: Mar 14, 2006
Posts: 2907
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| Posted:
July 26, 2006 - 03:36 PM |
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haha, google is indeed everywhere. I thought that didn't really explain how I could use it in a sentence hence why I posted. |
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"Eight minutes past the hour here in Belgium - and presumably eight minutes past the hour everywhere in the world." Murray Walker |
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WhiteCountess
Talker
Joined: July 19, 2006
Posts: 107
Status: Offline
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July 26, 2006 - 03:46 PM |
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http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/Boondoggles
Boondoggle is a North American term which has come to refer to the performance of useless or trivial tasks while appearing to be doing something important. In the United States, the key feature of this "art" is the waste of time and/or money involved. In Canada, however, the term has come to mean, more specifically, a government scandal involving the wasting or misallocation of public funds causing a project to be well over-budget, frequently more than double or triple the original cost.
Originally the term was boon doogle referring to a bone or metal ring used to secure the scarf of a Boy Scout (also called a woggle). American Scoutmaster Robert H. Link (died 1959) is credited with coining the term. From this, the term came to refer to the lanyards worn on the uniform of a scout, or to similar small decorative objects.
"Boondoggle," in the sense of a term for a project that wastes time and money, first appeared during the Great Depression in the 1930s, referring to the millions of jobs given to unemployed men and women to try to get the economy moving again, as part of the New Deal. It came into common usage after a 1935 New York Times headline claimed that over $3 million had been spent teaching the jobless how to make boon doggles1.
In more recent times the term "Boondoggle" has come to refer to a government or corporate project involving large numbers of people and usually, heavy expenditure, where at some point the key operators have realized that the project is never going to work, but are reluctant to bring this to the attention of their superiors. Generally there is an aspect of "going through the motions", (for example, continuing research and development), for as long as funds are available to keep paying the researchers' and executives' salaries and so on. The situation can be allowed to continue for what seem like unreasonably long periods, as senior management are often reluctant to admit that they allowed a failed project to go on for so long. In many cases, the actual device itself may eventually work, but not well enough to ever recoup its development costs.
An important aspect of the Boondoggle, as opposed to a project that simply fails, is the eventual realization by its operators that it is never going to work, long before it is finally shut down. This is not the same thing as simply fraud, where the proponents know in advance that their idea has no merit.
One example of this was the RCA "Selectavision" (CED) video disk system project, commenced in the early 1960s and allowed to drag on for nearly 20 years, long after cheaper and better alternatives had come to market. RCA were estimated to have spent about $US750 million (1985 dollars) on this commercially useless system, which was one of the factors leading to its bankruptcy in 1988.
Another is the Anglo-French Concorde Supersonic Passenger aircraft. As with the Selectavision system, although actual planes were built and regular services maintained for decades, the income from this has barely made a dent in the actual cost of the project. In this case, by the early 1970s it had already become painfully obvious that the advantages of supersonic flight were going to be nowhere near enough to compete with the low fares made possible by slower but much more cost-effective aircraft.
Boondoggle is also known in the business world, for trips taken to "exotic" or popular locations for a meeting. Usually, these meetings could have been either handled over the phone or not occurred all together. |
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shanghaiceltic
Board Royalty
Joined: Sep 20, 2005
Posts: 7614
Location: Perth WA
Status: Offline
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| Posted:
July 26, 2006 - 03:49 PM |
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Chinese banks have a lot of boondoggling going on. |
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I have parrallel bars at home, one for gin and one for whiskey |
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tomnoddy_uk
Fire-eater
Joined: Mar 14, 2006
Posts: 2907
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| Posted:
July 26, 2006 - 04:01 PM |
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thankyou both, article was referring to Three Gorges so it makes sense. |
_________________
"Eight minutes past the hour here in Belgium - and presumably eight minutes past the hour everywhere in the world." Murray Walker |
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GC
The Ginger Prince
Joined: Dec 01, 2003
Posts: 21536
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July 27, 2006 - 06:28 AM |
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In Scotland, to boondoggle someone, is to kick them very hard behind the knees, thus rendering them limp and helpless. |
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You turned on the lights, Fuelled U boats by night, That's how you repay us, It's time to go home. |
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