Boondocks Boondocks The boondocks is an American expression that stems from the Tagalog word "bundók" ("mountain"). It originally referred to a remote rural area, but now it is often applied to an out-of-the-way city or town considered backward and unsophisticated. It can also designate a 'mountain'. The expression was introduced to English by U.S. military personnel fighting in the Philippine–American War (1899-1902). It derives from the Tagalog word ""bundók"", which means "mountain". According to military historian Paul A. Kramer, the term originally had "connotations of bewilderment and confusion", due to the guerrilla warfare in which the soldiers were engaged. In the
Tagalog language has a significant number of Spanish loanwords. Spanish is the language that has bequeathed the most loanwords to Tagalog. Tagalog also includes many loanwords from English, Indian languages (Sanskrit and Tamil), Chinese languages (Hokkien, Cantonese, Mandarin), Japanese, Arabic and Persian. Due to trade with Mexico via the Manila galleons from the 16th to the 19th centuries, many words from Nahuatl were introduced to Tagalog, but some of them were replaced by Spanish loanwords in the latter part of the Spanish colonization in the islands. The Philippines has long been a melting pot of nations. The islands have been subject to