Date   : Fri, 03 Feb 2006 22:04:26 +0000
From   : James Fidell <james@...>
Subject: Re: Making a 3.5" Beeb floppy drive

Quoting Richard Gellman (splodge@...):

> >Indeed it does, and there is no conclusive evidence that it derives from
> >'box-standard'.
> >There's a show running on the BBC called Balderdash & Piffle that is looking
> >at origins of English words and phrases, and this is one that is on their
> >list:
> >http://www.oed.com/bbcwordhunt/bog-standard.html
>
>
> Coming in late on this one, the etimology of this term was covered by 
> Stephen Fry on the end of an episode of QI. The origins actually lend 
> two terms in common use. When Meccano was first made, it was released in 
> versions:
> 
> 1. Box Standard - A basic set for the finanincally pushed providing 
> hours of fun for the child, from whence we derive "Bog Standard", 
> meaning "nothing special".

Seems unlikely to me that QI's researchers would have found documentary
evidence of this that wasn't available to the OED's compilers and given
how long meccano has been around there can't be too many people left
who remember the events. I think I'd be inclined to categorise this
explanation as "tempting, but unproven".

James