Boondoggle

A type of jewelry created by hand. Made from flattened plastic strings which are wrapped together in a fashion similar to a french braid. Usually done with 4 strings, but can be done with 2, 6, maybe even 8. Basically one chooses 4 strings of complementing colors, and ties all of them together at one end, so they are held together at that point and the strings hang loose. You then each and pull them away from one another so that each has an opposing string (for 4: do north, south, east, west). Then you take the pair opposing one another (ie. north and south), flip them over the top so that they switch sides. Make sure to keep the little loop open. Now take the other pair. Thread the east through one of the loops created. Thread west through the other. Now flip those back to their original positions and make sure they created loops. Now keep repeating this process alternating between opposing pairs. Eventually you ought to have a squarish trinket which can be made into a bracelet or keychain when tied off at the opposite end.

American slang term (popular since circa 1935) for useless, unnecessary, or wasteful activity. Also used as a verb to indicate taking part in such an activity. Usually implies either self-conscious waste of time or money just to appear busy, or downright fraud.

Coining the word is usually attributed to scoutmaster Robert H. Link (late 1920s), who used it to describe the braided jewelry mentioned in other writeups, however it was used even earlier by cowboys for saddle decorations they made while trying to kill time. Link's Boy Scouts would also be made to spend their time producing these trinkets in order to keep busy and stay out of trouble. Later the term was expanded to mean any kind of worthless or trivial work, as well as government-initiated creation of useless jobs (see boondoggling). The term is most prominently used in W.C. Fields' 1940 movie The Bank Dick.