Boondoggle (project)

Boondoggle (project)

The term boondoggle, in the sense of a project that wastes time and money, first appeared during the Great Depression in the 1930s, referring to the millions of jobs given to unemployed men and women to try to get the economy moving again, as part of the New Deal. It came into common usage after a 1935 "New York Times" headline claimed that over $3 million had been spent teaching the jobless how to make boon doggles. [cite news | title=$3,187,000 relief is spent to teach jobless to play; $19,658,512 voted for April; 'Boon Doggles' Made |date=April 4, 1935 | publisher=New York Times | url=http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/nytimes/94593350.html?did=94593350&FMT=ABS&FMTS=AI&date=Apr+4%2C+1935&author=&pub=New+York+Times++(1857-Current+file)&desc=%243%2C187%2C000+RELIEF+IS+SPENT+TO+TEACH+JOBLESS+TO+PLAY%3B+%2419%2C658%2C512+VOTED+FOR+APRIL]

More recently, the term "boondoggle" has come to refer to a government or corporate project involving large numbers of people and usually heavy expenditure; at some point, the key operators have realized that the project is never going to work, but are reluctant to bring this to the attention of their superiors. Generally there is an aspect of "going through the motions" – for example, continuing research and development – as long as funds are available to keep paying the researchers' and executives' salaries. The situation can be allowed to continue for what seem like unreasonably long periods, as senior management are often reluctant to admit that they allowed a failed project to go on for so long. In many cases, the actual device itself may eventually work, but not well enough to ever recoup its development costs.

A distinguishing aspect of a boondoggle, as opposed to a project that simply fails, is the eventual realization by its operators that it is never going to work, long before it is finally shut down. This is not the same thing as fraud, in which the proponents know in advance that their idea has no merit.

Examples

One example of this was the RCA "SelectaVision" video disk system project, commenced in the early 1960s and allowed to drag on for nearly 20 years, long after cheaper and better alternatives had come to market. RCA were estimated to have spent about $750 million (1985 dollars) on this commercially useless system, which was one of the factors leading to its bankruptcy in 1988.

Another is the Anglo-French Concorde supersonic passenger aircraft. As with the SelectaVision system, although actual planes were built and regular services maintained for decades, the income from this has barely made a dent in the actual cost of the project. In this case, by the early 1970s it had already become painfully obvious that the advantages of supersonic flight were going to be nowhere near enough to compete with the low fares made possible by slower but much more cost-effective aircraft.

The Suvarnabhumi Airport in Bangkok, Thailand involved an extremely long planning cycle, cost overruns, allegations of corruption, and, when opened, was criticized for its poor construction. This lead one Thailand commentator to label it the "Suvarnabhoondoggle". [http://www.thaivisa.com/forum/Airport-s-Aircraft-Parking-Bays-T-t89917.html&st=50&p=1095696#entry1095696]

See also

* White elephant

References

Further reading


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Look at other dictionaries:

  • Boondoggle — or boon doggle may refer to:* Boondoggle (project), term for a scheme that wastes time and money * Scoubidou, a knotting and plaiting craft known in the U.S. as boondoggle ** Gimp (thread), a type of thread used in making boondoggles and lanyards …   Wikipedia

  • boondoggle — ☆ boondoggle [bo͞on′däg΄əl, bo͞on′dôg΄əl ] n. [orig. dial., ornamental leather strap; modern sense from c. 1935] a trifling or pointless project, expenditure, etc.; now esp., one financed by public funds vi. boondoggled, boondoggling to engage in …   English World dictionary

  • boondoggle — oon dog*gle v. 1. a braided cord made by hand by young scouts, used for various purposes, such as a hat cord or a key chain. 2. a useless, wasteful, or impractical project; especially one authorized by a government agency as a favor to partisans …   The Collaborative International Dictionary of English

  • boondoggle N. Amer. — boondoggle N. Amer. [ bu:ndɒg(ə)l] informal noun an unnecessary, wasteful, or fraudulent project. verb waste money or time on such projects. Origin 1930s: of unknown origin …   English new terms dictionary

  • boondoggle — [“bundogl] n. a waste of time and money; a project for spending public money. □ Another Washington boondoggle came to light today as investigators revealed plans for a dam in a California canyon that doesn’t have any water. □ This is another… …   Dictionary of American slang and colloquial expressions

  • boondoggle — noun Etymology: coined by Robert H. Link died 1957 American scoutmaster Date: 1929 1. a braided cord worn by Boy Scouts as a neckerchief slide, hatband, or ornament 2. a wasteful or impractical project or activity often involving graft •… …   New Collegiate Dictionary

  • boondoggle — boondoggler, n. /boohn dog euhl, daw geuhl/, n., v., boondoggled, boondoggling. n. 1. a product of simple manual skill, as a plaited leather cord for the neck or a knife sheath, made typically by a camper or a scout. 2. work of little or no value …   Universalium

  • boondoggle —  A special deal; questionable public spending.  ► “To most of Los Angeles County’s 9 million residents, the subway increasingly has the look of a boondoggle. Started a decade ago by then mayor Tom Bradley, the $5.8 billion project is plagued by… …   American business jargon

  • boondoggle — boon|dog|gle [ bun,dagl ] noun count AMERICAN INFORMAL a plan or project, especially one created by the government, that wastes a lot of time and money …   Usage of the words and phrases in modern English

  • boondoggle — verb, meaning to be engaged in a time wasting task that looks like work (usually while at work). Emailing is an extremely common form of boondoggling. I am not boondoggling, I am doing legitimate research for my project …   Dictionary of american slang

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