# Dialect question: 'Boogan'/'bougan'/'bogan'
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-question-boogan-bougan-bogan/751541
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share
**Created:** [April 8, 2016, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-question-boogan-bougan-bogan/751541 "2016-04-08T13:16:15Z")
**Posts on this page:** 9
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2016, 1:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-question-boogan-bougan-bogan/751541/1 "2016-04-08T13:16:15Z")
I’m a west coast US transplant to southwest Missouri and shortly after moving here was introduced to this… I think it’s an ethnic/class slur, a bit more specific than ‘white trash’, usually applied to small city whites low on the socio-economic food chain (not quite same meaning of ‘redneck’ or ‘hillbilly’-- I think there’s something kind of urban about it?). ANYWAY I have never heard this term before, here pronounced ‘boogan’ (and not everyone here seems to know it), and in poking around on the internet it appears that the only other place it’s current, in ‘bogan’ form, is Australia and New Zealand? Does your neck of the woods have a version of this term? And… how did a term become popular in Australia, New Zealand, and… the Ozarks?
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### Author:  [@Crotalus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crotalus)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2016, 1:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-question-boogan-bougan-bogan/751541/2 "2016-04-08T13:28:59Z")
I lived for 46 years in Maryland and now 16 years in Ohio, and I have never encountered the word.
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### Author:  [@jtur88](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jtur88)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2016, 1:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-question-boogan-bougan-bogan/751541/3 "2016-04-08T13:42:25Z")
Me neither, and Ive lived in 16 states/provinces.
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### Author:  [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2016, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-question-boogan-bougan-bogan/751541/4 "2016-04-08T14:28:55Z")
Yeah, only heard “bogan” as a pejorative word for a specific sort of Australian white trash- kind of like “chav” in the UK.
Wouldn’t the similar people in SW Missouri more properly be “hillbillies” anyway?
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### Author:  [@Inigo\_Montoya](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inigo_Montoya)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2016, 5:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-question-boogan-bougan-bogan/751541/5 "2016-04-08T17:02:16Z")
I am familiar with the term, but only via [this documentary](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082094/) about boogens in rural Colorado. They inhabit a small town and are not well-regarded.
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### Author:  [@MoonMoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoonMoon)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2016, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-question-boogan-bougan-bogan/751541/6 "2016-04-08T17:57:13Z")
> [@The Great Sun Jester](#):
>
> I am familiar with the term, but only via [this documentary](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0082094/) about boogens in rural Colorado. They inhabit a small town and are not well-regarded.
Oh, cool - I didn’t realize someone had made a movie about [Ward, Colorado](https://sites.google.com/site/wardcolorado/wardreputation,community). 😉
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### Author:  [@Merneith](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Merneith)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2016, 10:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-question-boogan-bougan-bogan/751541/7 "2016-04-08T22:31:56Z")
I had never heard the term before and I’ve lived in Ohio all my life.
Urban Dictionary has an entry, describing it as a Australian thing, similar to rednecks:
> **[Urban Dictionary: Bogan](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Bogan)**
>
> Australian term for Redneck.
Among other examples, Urban Dictionary records a “Bogan Villa” as being part of the residence of the Danish Royal Family, which I think is rather good -
> **[Urban Dictionary: BOGAN VILLA](https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=BOGAN%2BVILLA)**
>
> (Ref: Bougainvillea, a shrub with 'showy' flowers, compatible with the future occupants, the bogan Crown Princess Mary, and her less than energetic husband, Crown Prince Frederik Part of the octagonal pile in the middle of Copenhagen, occupied by the...
I note that “bog” is slang for latrines, but I don’t know if that’s relevant.
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### Author:  [@Penfeather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Penfeather)
#### Post date: [April 8, 2016, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-question-boogan-bougan-bogan/751541/8 "2016-04-08T22:45:48Z")
Australian/New Zealand slang. Like a redneck, but suburban, and without any racial or political overtones. Predominantly white, blue collar, low to middle income, likes big old cars {ideally on blocks on the lawn}, AC/DC on the stereo, black singlets {crimson track pants and Ugg boots for the women} and big barky dogs. Mostly pejorative, can can also be used affectionately. Mah peeps.
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### Author:  [@Mona\_Lisa\_Simpson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mona_Lisa_Simpson)
#### Post date: [April 10, 2016, 5:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/dialect-question-boogan-bougan-bogan/751541/9 "2016-04-10T05:37:20Z")
In the 1980s in Northern Ontario “bo-gan” was a slur against the indigenous first nations, especially non status who lived in town. I had forgotten that word, until this thread. I haven’t heard it in at least 25 years.