Boondoggle

This article is about the craft. For the type of project, see Boondoggle (project).

Boondoggle is a North American arts and crafts activity in which you use flat strings. Originally the term was boon doogle referring to a bone or metal ring used to secure the scarf of a Boy Scout (also called a woggle). American Scoutmaster Robert H. Link (died 1959) is credited with coining the term. From this, the term came to refer to the lanyards worn on the uniform of a scout, or to similar small decorative objects.

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A simple boondoggle keychain

Boondoggle has also come to refer in the USA for the plaiting craft known elsewhere as Scoubidou, since many such objects are made by this craft. For examples of "boondoggle" in this sense, refer to the article on the movie Napoleon Dynamite.

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Two spools of plastic lace used for boondoggle keychains

References

• Michael Quinion. "BOONDOGGLE". World Wide Words. http://www.worldwidewords.org/weirdwords/ww-boo1.htm. Retrieved February 19. 
• "The Origins of the Woggle". The Scout Information Centre: London. Accessed February 19, 2005 (PDF format)