Podunk

The terms Podunk, podunk, or Podunk Hollow in American English denotes or describes an insignificant, out-of-the-way, or fictitious town. It is often used in the upper case as a placeholder name, to indicate insignificance and lack of importance.

The word podunk is of Algonquian origin. It denoted both the Podunk people and marshy locations, particularly the people's winter village site on the border of present-day East Hartford and South Windsor, Connecticut. Podunk was first defined in an American national dictionary in 1934, as an imaginary small town considered typical of placid dullness and lack of contact with the progress of the world.

The earliest citation in the Dictionary of American Regional English is from Samuel Griswold Goodrich's 1840 book, The Politician of Podunk:

The book portrays Waxtend as being drawn by his interest in public affairs into becoming a representative in the General Assembly, finding himself unsuited to the role, and returning to his trade. It is unclear whether the author intended to evoke more than the place near Ulysses, New York by the name "Podunk". Possibly the term was meant to exemplify "plain, honest people", as opposed to more sophisticated people with questionable values. An 1875 description said:

In American discourse, the term podunk came into general colloquial use, through the wide national readership of the "Letters from Podunk" of 1846, in the Daily National Pilot of Buffalo, New York. These represented "Podunk" as a real place but one insignificant and out of the way. The term gained currency as standing for a fictional place. For instance, in 1869, Mark Twain wrote the article, "Mr. Beecher and the Clergy," defending his friend, Thomas K. Beecher, whose preaching had come under criticism. In it he said:

...
Wikipedia