boong
Definition from Wiktionary, a free dictionary
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[edit] English
[edit] Etymology
Suggested as having an Australian aboriginal origin Template:cite sources. If so, then it seems likely to come from binghi (elder brother) which appears in Aboriginal dialects[1], also seen as bung (elder brother), in Indonesian dialects, (see also R. M. W. Dixon, Australian Aboriginal Words, Oxford University Press, 1990, ISBN 0-19-553099-3, page 165).
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 w:Xavier Herbert (eg in Capricornia), for example.
Whatever the origin, the term now spelled boong has taken on a particularly offensive slant, especially after spreading of a joke concerning the supposed etymology of the word, which in the joke is given as onomatopeiac, and due to a supposed practice of wanton disregard for road-safety of pedestrian Australian Aborigines.
[edit] Noun
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Singular |
Plural |
boong (plural boongs)
- (Australian, slang, very pejorative) An Australian aborigine, usually applied to those who are drunken, crazed and disorderly.
