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Box-standard, ffs
[citation needed]
The other most often repeated theory of the derivation is that it is a mispronunciation of 'box standard', the term referring to unmodified goods coming straight from the box. This appears to be a later expression, first recorded in 1983, but is likely to have been around in everyday speech for some years prior to that. If one phrase did influence the other, it is more likely that 'box-standard' is a mispronounced or euphemistic version of 'bog standard'.
cyclotron3k-
It may be apocryphal, but it is nevertheless "common knowledge" (as they say) that Bog Standard referred originally to the ordinary, unsophisticated Meccano set which was called Box Standard. The one with all the bells and whistles was called Box Deluxe, which is similarly reputed to be the origin of Dog's Bollocks.
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There's a lot of fake etymology out there, no more than urban myth. Then people who don't understand that basic fact of modern life get all precious over one theory that they credulously accepted as gospel.
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Well I’ve been in engineering of one form or another since 1979, and I was told by a senior engineer that the correct term was box-standard back when I was an apprentice, so it’s been around since at least the 70’s. Bog-standard just doesn’t make any sense, anyway.
not4sale
itsbruce
jj72
Box-standard, ffs. The end has already started.