Etymology Coined by American scout leader Robert H. Link in 1929; alternatively “boon doggle”. Compare woggle of similar sense, which is attested in the same period. In the sense of a “wasteful government program”, popularized in 1935 by The New York Times, in reference to New Deal programs which were claimed to feature people making such braids.
Opponents consider this another billion-dollar government boondoggle.
Senator John Stennis […] has been active and effective for so long as a member of the Armed Services Committee that he knows as well as any man can where the bodies are buried in the Pentagon and the boondoggles are buried in the defense budget.1972 September 19, Tom Wicker, “In the Nation”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 13 Oct 2022, retrieved 13 Aug 2018:
3 more examples
“Oh, for the-- how much did you waste on that little boondoggle?” “Well, it's not that so much as--” “Krieger.” “Well, I needed ballast, and what better to simulate bricks of cocaine than, you know, bricks of cocaine.”2014 March 24, Adam Reed, “On the Carpet” (18:08 from the start), in Archer, season 5, episode 9, spoken by Malory Archer (Jessica Walter):
Klein dismantles the boondoggle that is cap and trade.2014 November 6, Rob Nixon, “Naomi Klein’s ‘This Changes Everything’”, in The New York Times, archived from the original on 01 Apr 2022:
For cynics, it is a boondoggle plagued by delays (it began in 2007 and was supposed to begin experiments in 2016, but this will not now happen until 2025), questionable management and ballooning costs (double the original estimate).2019 May 2, “Iter, a reactor in France, may deliver fusion power as early as 2045”, in The Economist, →ISSN, archived from the original on 14 Mar 2022:
3
A trip or journey, especially a recreational or otherwise desirable one.
By its strictest definition, a boondoggle is a recreational trip out of town, but it has been blurred by threadbare jokes to mean any trip that is desirable, whether for work or not.2005, Nicholas Johnson, “Chapter 3 Notes”, in Big Dead Place, →ISBN:
I could die on this boondoggle too, naturally, as the world has become something of a horror show of late. In any case, I trust that anybody following in my footsteps and reading these additional words will have the presence of mind to pursue the same basic strategy.2017 May 4, qntm, “SCP-3125”, in SCP Foundation, archived from the original on 12 Mar 2026:
4
Slang A non-work trip away from a research station.
A non-work excursion away from the station in US Antarctic English is a “boondoggle”, or a “jolly” for the Britons.2024 June 20, Eva Corlett, “Fidlets, fingies and riding a doo: study sheds light on Antarctic English slang”, in The Guardian:
Etymology Coined by American scout leader Robert H. Link in 1929; alternatively “boon doggle”. Compare woggle of similar sense, which is attested in the same period. In the sense of a “wasteful government program”, popularized in 1935 by The New York Times, in reference to New Deal programs which were claimed to feature people making such braids.
1
To waste time on a pointless activity.
These days the astronaut job title has been split into two categories. (Three, counting payload specialist, the category into which teachers, boondoggling senators, and junketing Saudi princes fall.)2010, Mary Roach, “He's Smart But His Birds Are Sloppy: Japan Picks an Astronaut”, in Packing for Mars: The Curious Science of Life in the Void, W. W. Norton & Company, →ISBN, page 28: