词族 · boondoggle
中文词源
boondoggle 细小而无用的事，面子工程
boondoggle，原指一种类似中国结一样的小装饰品。现词义来自于1935年美国罗斯福新政时，政府投入几百万美元打着丰富失业人民业余生活的旗号开办boondoggle workshop。
英语词源
- boondoggle (n.)
- 1935, American English, of uncertain origin, popularized during the New Deal as a contemptuous word for make-work projects for the unemployed. Said to have been a pioneer word for "gadget;" it also was by 1932 a Boy Scout term for a kind of woven braid.
权威例句
- 1. The new runway is a billion-dollar boondoggle.
- 新的机场跑道耗资10亿美元，却没什么大用处。
- 2. Our investment in water softeners was a boondoggle.
- 我们在水软化器上的投资打了水漂.