[Ads-l] Further Antedating of "Boondoggle"

[Dave Hause]

>From my primary casual reader point:  during my summer camp days (1950s) 
this item was called "bondoogle" so an alternate spelling might be 
approached.  This site, https://www.pinterest.com/pin/374291419001605645/ , 
shows what I remember as typical.

Dave Hause, dwhause at cablemo.net
Waynesville, MO

-----Original Message----- 
From: Ben Zimmer
Sent: Tuesday, January 26, 2016 1:34 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: Further Antedating of "Boondoggle"

Offlist, Fred helpfully supplied advice for dealing with the
recalcitrant Fulton History site, so I've been able to check out the
two cites he provided. The page images are here:

7/23/27: http://goo.gl/U0jwti
12/4/27: http://goo.gl/UdmbGm

Those two cites would need to be bracketed in the OED, since they
don't specifically refer to the braided leather craft. Here's the
earliest I've been able to find with the relevant meaning:

===
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, May 12, 1928, p. 3?, col. 3
Buck Gets Boondoggle from Scout Admirers
One hundred and fifty boys of Hubbell Boy Scout Troop 7 and Roosevelt
Troop 16 voted it a banner occasion last evening, when they
entertained Buck Jones, cowboy rancher and movie hero, at dinner at
the Central Presbyterian Church. As proof of their regard for Jones
and the feats of his horse, Silver, the boys presented him the most
distinctive insignia of the Rochester troop, a leather Boondoggle or
whistle cord.
[Page image: http://goo.gl/KRxWCQ ]
===

The next earliest cite I've found with the leatherwork meaning comes
from July 1929, when the Rochester scouts were preparing to go to the
World Scouting Jamboree:

===
Rochester Democrat and Chronicle, July 14, 1929, p. 17, col. 5
Rochester Delegates to International Boy Scout Jamboree Hold Final
Inspection of Equipment
[...]
Personal apparel during the inspection consisted of shorts,
short-sleeved khaki shirts, neckerchief, socks and special Scout
shoes, together with "boondoggles," distinctively colored braided
cords worn around the neck.
The Rochester Troop is the only one going to the Jamboree to wear
"boondoggles," it is said. Each scout possesses several of them, one
of a color uniform with those worn by other members of the troop, and
others of miscellaneous hues.
[Page image: http://goo.gl/NMJR4k ]
===

Then we have several cites from Aug. 1929 reporting on the Jamboree.

--bgz

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