boong
Definition from Wiktionary, the free dictionary
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[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
First used by soldiers in New Guinea. Suggested sources are Malay (boong, “brother”),[1] New Guinea native language (boong, “brother”), Indonesian dialect (bung, “brother”), and Aboriginal Australian (binghi, “brother”).[2]
- Previously the word binghi was used widely in similar fashion to the present-day use of the term Negro for peoples of African ancestry, see titles from this booklist and also writings of Xavier Herbert (e.g. in Capricornia), for example.
[edit] Noun
boong (plural boongs)
- (Australian, slang, dated) A native of New Guinea.
- 1943, Australian Army, Timor Souvenir, in Khaki and Green: With the Australian Army at Home and Overseas, page 119,
- A couple of boongs came down and carried me up to the hut where our R.A.P. corporal was.
- 1998, August Ibrum K. Kituai, My Gun, My Brother: The World of the Papua New Guinea Colonial Police, 1920-1960, page 282,
- During the War the soldiers generally referred to Papua New Guineans as “Boongs,” a name also given to black Americans. It is not a nice word, but is fair to say that the Aussies held the boongs in quite some affection during the War.
- 2000, Prue Torney-Parlicki, Somewhere in Asia: War, Journalism and Australia's Neighbours 1941-75, page 48,
- [Department of Information cameraman Damien] Parer's views on mateship encompassed both the Papuans and the soldiers: at one point he wrote ‘“no boongs, no battle”, implying that natives and diggers were equal partners in their fight against the Japanese.’71
- 1943, Australian Army, Timor Souvenir, in Khaki and Green: With the Australian Army at Home and Overseas, page 119,
- (Australian, slang, very pejorative) An Australian aborigine.
- 1988, Bruce Chatwin, The Songlines, page 92,
- I heard Bruce tell one of the drinkers he'd bought a place in Queensland where you could ‘still call a Boong a Boong’.
- 2010, Peter Temple, The Broken Shore, page 82,
- ‘ […] I quit the feds because I didn't want to be a showpiece boong cop.’
- 2011, Linda Lee Rathbun, Tjuringa, unnumbered page,
- “Yeah,” he said, “them boongs are a useless lot. The sooner they all die off, the better.”
- “And why is that?” Bill asked.
- “The Abos are nothing but a pack of boozers. All they wanna' do is get pissed.” The man glared at his beer. “Useless, they are.”
- 1988, Bruce Chatwin, The Songlines, page 92,
[edit] Synonyms
- (Asian or dark-skinned person): Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel
- (aboriginal): abo
[edit] See also
List of ethnic slurs#B on Wikipedia.Wikipedia:List of ethnic slurs#B
[edit] References
- ^ 1959, Xavier Herbert, Seven Emus, 2003, page 5 — The term boong is originally Malayan, meaning “brother”, but it doesn't mean anything like that in Australian usage.
- ^ 1988, The Bulletin, Issues 5617-5625, page 121 — They would doubtless have been amused to learn that in New Guinea, where the term "boong" originated, it means "brother" and has a kinship with the Indonesian "bung" and Thursday Island's "binghi".
