Bog Standard
Garry J. Vass
This curious term had a revival earlier this week, and has wound its way
from the news rooms into the broadsheet editorials. In Leftpondian it has
no meaning, leaving the suggestion that it refers to something from a bog or
moor. In Rightpondian, it means "as shipped from the factory, plain and
unadorned".
Until last week, its usage had a neutral spin. If anything, there was a
slightly favourable spin on the term suggesting both prudence and
practicality. One purchased a car with the bog standard accessories and
that was that.
Its etymology is thought to spring from a mispronunciation of "box
standard", but this has never been nailed down. Or has it?
Any thoughts on the etymology of "bog standard", other than a
mispronunciation of "box standard"?
Even curiouser, the context of the recent "bog standard" citation was a
trenchant condemnation that implied that "bog standard" wasn't good enough -
not "up to scratch" as they say - which seemingly defies the inherent
meaning of the term. I.e., "bog standard" is considerably below "bog
standard". Naturally, this leaves a vacancy for a neutral term meaning, "as
shipped from the factory, plain and unadorned".
GJV
Spehro Pefhany
> Its etymology is thought to spring from a mispronunciation of "box
> standard", but this has never been nailed down. Or has it?
Back in November of last year, I posted this URL which makes that claim:
http://www.h2g2.com/A128152 (oops, it's "temporarily dead").
Anyway, the claim was that it came from home-built kit sports cars, where
the basic model was "Box, Standard". This sounds a bit iffy to me, but
there were no other suggestions at the time.
A somewhat more thorough search yields some speculation that it may have
originated from army quartermasters' lists:
"Bog, Standard 1 off, .. "
Best regards,
--
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Spehro Pefhany --"it's the network..." "The Journey is the reward"
sp...@interlog.com Info for manufacturers: http://www.trexon.com
Embedded software/hardware/analog Info for designers: http://www.speff.com
Contributions invited->The AVR-gcc FAQ is at: http://www.BlueCollarLinux.com
=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=
Rudolf Schwarzkopf-Zskai
Garry J. Vass said:
: "Bog Standard"
: This curious term had a revival earlier this week
It did indeed.
In UK that is, when Herr-Doktor Spin, the Media-Mandarin-Mogul of New
Labia decided that Islingtononia needed at last to assert itself over the
Plebean-Other, (as ElTone did by sending his 'kids' to the London OraTory
rather than boggy-boggy-standard local schools), and at last tell the thruth
and say that Comps have failed the nation.
--
rud...@ntlworld.com - Nottingham UK - www.lizardnet.freeserve.co.uk
Tom Deveson
>Until last week, its usage had a neutral spin. If anything, there was a
>slightly favourable spin on the term suggesting both prudence and
>practicality.
There's a nice printed example of that favourable use in an interview
with Jasper Carrott about his favourite footballers (1980).
Apart from people like Malcolm MacDonald, Trevor Francis and Jimmy
Greaves, he talks about Gary Pendrey of West Brom. "He's your bog
standard ace, a club prop. Without him, football would not exist."
That seems to cover your 'prudence and practicality', different from the
international stars but also worthy and even admirable.
Tom
--
Tom Deveson
Jitze Couperus
<ga...@totally-official.com> wrote:
>"Bog Standard"
<snip>
>
>Its etymology is thought to spring from a mispronunciation of "box
>standard", but this has never been nailed down. Or has it?
>
>Any thoughts on the etymology of "bog standard", other than a
>mispronunciation of "box standard"?
>
The "box standard" is urban myth etymo.
It really stems from a time when Her Majesty's Stationary Office
provided standard issue toilet paper for use in Government
establishments. (Bronco, stamped "Property of HMG" on
each sheet). For such an important item, there has to
be a standard (size, tensile strength, absorbency, sheets per
serving, etc.) and this was laid down in great detail and after
many committee meetings with experts selected from industry,
academia, the armed services, and BSI.
Out of this came a detailed standard which was held up as
an example of "how it should be done" for other folks
in the standardisation business.
The resulting product is of course known as
"bog standard" toilet paper - to differentiate it
from the more expensive or luxurious varieties
(scented, 2-ply, more absorbent, whatever) that
is not destined for bogs, but for more patrician
conveniences.
Just thought you should know...
Jitze
Ref -
BSI 23-7-89(b)
ANSI Z4.32-1968
ISO 9009-4
AFNOR papier du crępe étandard
DIN J-44-13(c-s)
JIS 4.5.3.7.77
John Kilburn
jk
'Peace on earth'! was said. We sing it,
And pay a million priests to bring it.
After two thousand years of mass
We've got as far as poison-gas.
Garry J. Vass <ga...@totally-official.com> wrote in message
news:982525990.4630.0...@news.demon.co.uk...
M.J.Powell
<couperu...@znet.com> writes
Followed by the hospital which found a cheaper source and bought that.
Later they were reprimanded by HMG. To which they replied that ''no
self-inflicted injuries have been reported...'
Mike
--
M.J.Powell
Chris Malcolm
>news:982525990.4630.0...@news.demon.co.uk...
> "Bog Standard"
> This curious term had a revival earlier this week, and has wound its way
> from the news rooms into the broadsheet editorials. In Leftpondian it has
> no meaning, leaving the suggestion that it refers to something from a bog
or
> moor. In Rightpondian, it means "as shipped from the factory, plain and
> unadorned".
>
> Until last week, its usage had a neutral spin. If anything, there was a
> slightly favourable spin on the term suggesting both prudence and
> practicality. One purchased a car with the bog standard accessories and
> that was that.
>
> Its etymology is thought to spring from a mispronunciation of "box
> standard", but this has never been nailed down. Or has it?
I don't know what constitutes "nailing down", but if you read old
British sports car and sports motorcycle magazines from the Brooklands
era you will find references to "box standard" vehicles, i.e.,
standard vehicles straight out of the maker's box, as opposed to those
which had been tweaked in various ways to go faster. It is my
impression that ignorant journalists overhearing the techie
engineering talk in the pits misheard it as "bog standard". I recall
that in motorsport magazines of the 1950s some of the elderly and more
literate contributors would pedantically insist on referring to "box
standard" when "bog" had largely become the standard. "Bog" also
suggests something homespun and agricultural, so it's likely those who
enjoyed tweaking engines to go faster enjoyed the implied sneer and
adopted "bog standard".
What were called "production racers" were meant to be "box standard"
vehicles, and there was a great deal of messing about defining how
many had to be made and offered for sale, and how much road-legal kit
they had to carry, for something to count as a production "box
standard" racer.
However, I'm not going to spend days rummaging in ancient library
archives to find exact quotations. I'm sure the only reason this "box
standard" business is not well known in dictionary circles is that
those with ink-stained fingers tend to move in quite different social
circles to those with sump-oil stained fingers. What would not be
difficult for someone with the time to do it would be to find the
primacy of "box" giving way to the co-existence of "box" and "bog" and
thence to to the supremacy of "bog". I noticed the transition decades
ago when going through old archives because of an interest in the
history of motor sport and engineering.
--
Chris Malcolm c...@dai.ed.ac.uk +44 (0)131 650 3085
School of Artificial Intelligence, Division of Informatics
Edinburgh University, 5 Forrest Hill, Edinburgh, EH1 2QL, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/daidb/people/homes/cam/ ] DoD #205
Garry J. Vass
news:96s0lu$ku9$1...@scotsman.ed.ac.uk...
[...]
> era you will find references to "box standard" vehicles, i.e.,
> standard vehicles straight out of the maker's box, as opposed to those
Chris,
May one lift excerpts from this thorough explanation for use in a FAQ
supplement?
GJV
--
English language FAQ: http://www.yaelf.com
David Empey
12.c2...@news.demon.co.uk>:
>
>Even curiouser, the context of the recent "bog standard" citation was a
>trenchant condemnation that implied that "bog standard" wasn't good enough -
>not "up to scratch" as they say - which seemingly defies the inherent
>meaning of the term. I.e., "bog standard" is considerably below "bog
>standard". Naturally, this leaves a vacancy for a neutral term meaning, "as
>shipped from the factory, plain and unadorned".
"Standard".
HTH. HAND.
--
Dave Empey
Ray Heindl
<904F96E1Edgem...@216.148.68.41>:
How about "stock"?
--
Ray Heindl
TQ
wrote:
No good. 'Stock' has a specific contextual meaning. Whereas bog is
non-specific and so it's meaning when used, is defined by the subject
and generaly accepted concepts of 'the plain basic item'.
TQ
Ray Heindl
I've often used stock to mean "as shipped from the factory", more or
less as in stock cars, but my dictionary doesn't list this meaning, so
I guess it doesn't quite fit. Still, it doesn't seem like much of a
leap; the first adjectival definition of stock is "kept regularly on
hand, as for use or sale; staple; standard" which seems to fill the
bill.
--
Ray Heindl