Huey and Riley Freeman

The term boondocks refers to a remote, usually brushy rural area; or to a remote city or town that is considered unsophisticated. The expression was introduced to English by American military personnel serving in the Philippines during the early years of the 20 th century. It derives from the Tagalog word "bundok", meaning "mountain". According to military historian Paul Kramer, the term had attached to it "connotations of bewilderment and confusion", due to the guerrilla nature of the warfare in which the soldiers were engaged .

The term has evolved into American slang used to refer to the countryside or any implicitly isolated rural/wilderness area, regardless of topography or vegetation. Similar slang or colloquial words are "the sticks", "the wops" "the backblocks" or "Woop Woop" in Australia & New Zealand, "bundu" in South Africa, and "out in the tule" in California. The diminutive "the boonies" can be heard in films about the Vietnam War such as Brian De Palma's Casualties of War. It is used by American military personnel to designate rural areas of Vietnam.