A boondoggle is a project that wastes time and money without accomplishing anything worthwhile. The word often describes government spending on projects that look impressive but serve no real purpose, like building a bridge to nowhere or funding a study of something ridiculous.

The term comes from an amusing piece of American history. In the 1930s, a man named Robert Link taught Boy Scouts to make decorative leather cords called boondoggles. When a government program paid people to teach crafts during the Great Depression, critics complained that taxpayers were funding useless activities. The word stuck as a label for wasteful projects.

Today, boondoggle describes any activity that looks busy and important but achieves nothing useful. A committee that meets for months without making any decisions might be called a boondoggle. A school assembly that wastes two hours when everyone could be learning might feel like a boondoggle. A company spending millions on fancy offices while its actual product falls apart? Classic boondoggle.