Very far away, in the depths, isolated [glossary]

[aleCcowaN]

Last night I heard the word "boondocks" in a TV series ("You put Trevor on the bus to the boondocks?") and I started to think in the figurative uses of these words to depict what is very far away, isolated or set aside the main stream of human activity.

If I am not mistaken, "boondocks" could be in a strict sense Spanish "espesura" or simply "lo agreste", but in a figurative sense it seems to match many a local expression which I'd like to offer and discuss:

"¿Lo subiste al autobús y lo mandaste al cu** del mundo?"

"El cu** del mundo" ---> the farthest, the most recondite, isolated and forgotten place

similar to

"donde el Diablo perdió el poncho" -to add wild, unwelcoming and unforgiving to the previous one-
"a los quintos infiernos" -with similar sense-

In Spain they'd use "allá por el quinto pino" and there's a expression with many uses "vivir/estar en Las Batuecas", sometimes similar to "estar en Babia", that is, to be in the clouds, but also to refer an isolated and wild region.

What other terms are used in English and Spanish to depict such situations?

[wrholt]

"The boondocks" is one of many expressions that have this general meaning.

Other common expressions here in the US include:

the sticks
the woods
the back woods
the back of beyond
Podunk
Timbuktu
the middle of nowhere
the hills

[chileno]

...lo mandaste a la punta del cerro.

Por lo menos en Chile habríamos dicho eso.

[aleCcowaN]

Thank you, gentlemen!

"Podunk", esa nunca la había escuchado.

Hay otras que son idénticas en inglés: "un lugar abandonado/dejado de la mano de Dios" (godforsaken place), donde la gran distancia puede ser psicológica.

Otro de la región pampeana: "[lo mandó a/está en] la loma del c***/orto" (in the immense boredom of the plain a hillocky place is where a hamlet or a estancia would be to control the surroundings and avoid any risk of flood)

[wrholt]

Originally Posted by aleCcowaN

...
"Podunk", esa nunca la había escuchado.
...

"Podunk", "podunk", "East Podunk" and "Podunk Hollow" are North American; I don't know that they are used outside of the US and Canada.

Wikipedia claims that the word is from Algonquin (a native American language group), and one tribe of native people was called the "Podunk people".

Today the word typically refers to a place of small size or in the middle of nowhere, and it may be used as an adjective ("podunk") or as a placeholder place name ("Podunk" and variations).

Another placeholder place name is "Hicksville", which comes from the noun/adjective "hick" = someone/something from a small town.

[aleCcowaN]

Thanks for that

I looked for "Podunk" in my collection of subtitles and I found one instance in episode 2 of fan supported web series Pioneer One (with excellent ratio quality/dollar, by the way):

- "I just got off the phone with the science editor from The Times".
- "As in New York Times?"
- "No, as in South Podunk... Yeah, sorry, The New York Times".

[poli]

I think in Spain quinto pino is used. Caribbeans I know use Patagonia.