So it's not just UK that sees taxes wasted

[Highmac]

In the UK we thought we were the only ones with officials who can make unfathomably stupid decisions.
Why a one-room West Virginia library runs a $20,000 Cisco router

QUOTE

...questioned whether the state had not just been boondoggled

And that is a word I've never seen used over here. Love how it sounds though

[Xairbusdriver]

Oh, we see that word in action almost daily. I think it's in both the Democrat and Republican party mission statements. Matter of fact, I think "mission statements" are the source of most boondoggles! I would hazard a guess that many of the recipients of the routers were hornswoggled, also.

The sad part is that the 'auditors' never are included before he money is spent... and too often, not even people who know what they are buying, much less what they need! Unfortunately, it happens in private areas, also. Never in a Mac household, of course.

[gunug]

QUOTE

Boondoggle:

a. A braided leather cord worn as a decoration especially by Boy Scouts.
b. A cord of braided leather, fabric, or plastic strips made by a child as a project to keep busy.

-- http://www.thefreedictionary.com/boondoggled

I had one of my scout leaders use the word back in the 1960's to refer to a braid worn to indicate a Senior Patrol Leader (I think) and I never thought to use it in the years I was a Scout Leader.  It's much more likely to be used by the same kind of journalist's that use the phrase "pork-barrel spending!"

On the subject of routers I believe that there is a little extra cost to buy a more robust router that allows for management and such and more capacity than you might need right now.  We cannot get by very well in my organization with cheap little routers that you might use in your home.  I suspect they went beyond in this case!

[Xairbusdriver]

I suspect the Scouting use of boon'doggle' was a corrupted form of <'woggle.'>

[Paddy]

QUOTE

boondoggle [ˈbuːnˌdɒgəl] Informal chiefly US and Canadian
vb
(intr) to do futile and unnecessary work
n
a futile and unnecessary project or work
[said to have been coined by R. H. Link, American scoutmaster]
boondoggler  n
Collins English Dictionary – Complete and Unabridged © HarperCollins Publishers 1991, 1994, 1998, 2000, 2003

There seems to be some debate as to who coined the term...

More: http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?term=boondoggle (certainly the "make-work" part of it relates to the creation of bracelets/lanyards etc. that, let's face it, mostly only children would love... )

I certainly remember referring to the stuff we used to make bracelets with when I was a kid as "boondoggle" - and as "gimp" - and if you look online, there are lots of sites devoted to explaining how to make the bracelets, lanyards etc. http://www.angelfire.com/ny3/upariver/boon.html for example (sheesh - I didn't know angel fire still existed!!)

Interesting that the use of the word never crossed the pond though, just as many British words and expressions aren't used here ("boot" for car trunk, "jumper" for sweater etc.).

[kimmer]

I've run across boondoggle several times in the book I'm reading, and it makes me giggle.

Sneakers works with the local scouts and teaches them how to make woggles out of wood, cord, leather, parachute cord, etc. For fun, here are some woggles by Sneakers: