Ironically, the word ‘boondocks’ probably has one of the most un-American origins of any Southern word since it comes from the Tagalog (Philippines) ‘bundok’, which means mountains in the native language. The word was brought back by American servicemen who had conquered the Philippines for the USA at the turn of the 20thC and now refers to rural places in general.

Written by the members of Little Big Town, Boondocks is a 2005 song about being proud about life in rural areas. It evinces fairly standard country themes such as the groundedness, ‘value-based’ and religious virtues of country living. The song did pretty well in the country charts.