The boon of the term ‘a favor or gift freely bestowed’ clearly relates to its meaning, but the doggie element is puzzling. One source says that boondoggle is a Scottish word for a marble received as a gift, without having worked for it. goldbrick A shirker, a loafer, a boondoggler...
That “trend” consists of “scholars” who are not acquainted with the Bible (to which Shakespeare alludes on every page); have no knowledge of the religious controversies of the age, or what was at stake in them; show only a superficial comprehension of the Shakespearian “texts” they pr...