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I spent several minutes looking up where the word came from and why, and how to find one, and why not to live there.

In the process I heard a song I'd never heard before by Billy Joe Royal, who I'd never heard of before, an obscure proto-C&W number called Down in the Boondocks.

As Wikipedia rather wonderfully puts it, "The girl's father is the singer's boss, which, along with the social division, prevents him from proclaiming his love and connecting with them, despite the shared feelings. The singer proclaims that "one fine day, I'll find a way, to move from this old shack," presumably to be able to join the higher class members of society and finally be able to date the girl within the public eye."

Someone enjoyed writing that.

Billy Joe Royal was not really C&W. He was on the edge of what was called Rockabilly.

Kind of a down-home Rock, Dance style, that appealed to the low rent district. "Down in the Boondocks" was once on about every Juke Box throughout the nation. Even the City kids could relate to being from the poor side of town. Johnny Rivers, another singer made several hits in the same theme.

Billy Joe's second best hit was "Hush" later made famous by Deep Purple, an early "Heavy Metal" Rock band.

Elvis brought Rockabilly to the fore when he first gained fame and Fortune.

The Boondocks were the lowland, under developed areas where the poor farmers, Sharecroppers, and factory workers lived. Usually on the wrong side of the tracks, as well.

One of Johnny Rivers' big hit songs was entitled Poor Side Of Town. It appealed to me more than BJR's Down In The Boondocks did.

ZAP;1493425 wrote: One of Johnny Rivers' big hit songs was entitled Poor Side Of Town. It appealed to me more than BJR's Down In The Boondocks did.




I was a big fan of Rivers, too.

Good one AFTR! I don't remember ever hearing that one. It's a little more uplifting than Down In The Boondocks. Several songs speak to the inequality of classes written about in DITB, among them "Patches" for the disadvantaged distaffs and Wolverton Mountain, I guess for the "lowlifes" ?

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Where I live, we have just shortened it to "The Boonies." For example, "Hey dude, I saw a mountain lion the other day out in the boonies."

And by the way, you really can see mountain lions where I live.

When I looked up the etymology of "boondocks", I expected to find some reference to Daniel Boone. Instead, the dictionary said it was derived from the Tagalog work "bundok" and was used by servicemen returning from the Philippines.

You pass through the boondocks on the way to Podunk.

From bundok, meaning mountain. Funny how meanings twist. Sometimes they flip, like "terrific".

Speaking of none of that, a recent word from the SGU podcast is 'Pleochroism' - an optical phenomenon in which a substance appears to be different colors when observed at different angles.

Use it in an internet post today.

ZAP;1493473 wrote: Good one AFTR! I don't remember ever hearing that one. It's a little more uplifting than Down In The Boondocks. Several songs speak to the inequality of classes written about in DITB, among them "Patches" for the disadvantaged distaffs and Wolverton Mountain, I guess for the "lowlifes" ?


I've always liked this song....................................the sense of joy and pride of where you came from.

Last weekend's SGU word: thixotropy - the property of having a viscosity that decreases when a stress is applied, as when stirred.

I think a mind is metaphorically thixotropic: If you never apply pressure of questioning to your beliefs they become more and more rigid.

Bored_Wombat;1493687 wrote: Last weekend's SGU word: thixotropy - the property of having a viscosity that decreases when a stress is applied, as when stirred.

I think a mind is metaphorically thixotropic: If you never apply pressure of questioning to your beliefs they become more and more rigid.


I like that - it is so true

I love the word. I half expect someone to open up their card & say "True" or Bluff".

I remain serene in the knowledge that all I believe is undoubtedly true, and all that is true is already known to me. I have evidently been left unstirred for quite a while.

Last weekends word was "sciolism" - A pretentious attitude of scholarship; superficial knowledgeability.

Call someone a sciolist in an internet argument this week, and post a link below.

It should be easy if you can find a forum about Quantum Physics as expounded by Deepak Chopra, or Climate Science as expounded by Anthony Watts.