Vocabulary Lesson: Billabong

When I was in middle school, the Washington Post published an article about popular skateboard brand Billabong. I nearly worshipped the local skate shop and Pac Sun (then Pacific Sunwear), but I generally strayed from Billabong in favor of Independent, Volcom, Girl, and DC. Nevertheless, I was cornered and accused of supporting not just an asshole (the article was not favorable), but also a pothead. Beacuse, you know.

Billabong.

(For the record, I didn't know! I don't know what a bong was! I'm fairly naieve.)

Well! A billabong is something else:

Billabong: Stagnant, unmoving water. (Australian.)

Wikipedia:
Australian English word meaning a small lake, specifically an oxbow lake, a section of still water adjacent to a river, cut off by a change in the watercourse, cf. an oxbow lake.^[1] Billabongs are usually formed when the path of a creek or river changes, leaving the former branch with a dead end. Despite some claims of a Scottish Gaelic origin,^[2] the word is most likely from the Wiradjuri term bilabaŋ.

I think the Washington Post, and an Old Person, owe me an apology.