Dictionary

boong en · NOUN

Pronunciation

• (Southern-England) audio
• /bʊŋ/

Etymology

Suggested sources are * Malay bung (“brother”), * Indonesian dialectal bung (“brother”) * A New Guinea native language * An Aboriginal Australian language. 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.

Meanings

1. (Australia, ethnic, offensive, slang, slur) An Australian Aboriginal person.
   • “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.” 2011, Linda Lee Rathbun, Tjuringa, unnumbered page:
   • ‘[…]I quit the feds because I didn't want to be a showpiece boong cop.’ 2010, Peter Temple, The Broken Shore, page 82:
   • I heard Bruce tell one of the drinkers he'd bought a place in Queensland where you could ‘still call a Boong a Boong’. 1988, Bruce Chatwin, The Songlines, page 92:
2. (Australia, dated, slang) A native of New Guinea or Malaysia.
   • A couple of boongs came down and carried me up to the hut where our R.A.P. corporal was. 1943, Australian Army, “Timor Souvenir”, in Khaki and Green: With the Australian Army at Home and Overseas, page 119:
   • 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. 1998, August Ibrum K. Kituai, My Gun, My Brother: The World of the Papua New Guinea Colonial Police, 1920-1960, page 282:
   • [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 2000, Prue Torney-Parlicki, Somewhere in Asia: War, Journalism and Australia's Neighbours 1941-75, page 48:

Forms

Synonyms

Jacky (aboriginal) · abo (aboriginal) · Fuzzy Wuzzy Angel (Asian or dark-skinned person)