I was just realizing the other day that I had no idea what "bog standard" meant, and wondered to myself if I had the expression wrong. For a moment I thought you were going to give us the answer. I like your idea of "British or German," but I suppose you found that here and they seem to discount that. These guys like the box-standard origin and seem to have some evidence for it.

Now having read all the same references you did, I'm no wiser.

We use it in Canada, but we don't use "bog" for toilet.

I had somehow made up the following explanation: a bog (as in wet land) is a starting or low point, and everything else is better than that. Now that I've come to explain it, it seems quite silly!

"Bog-standard" is too recent to be covered by the mighty Partridge, and all explanations I have heard sound like folk etymology. With other bog-related expressions like "bog-Irish" it's obvious, but the origin of the very recent and rather attractive "bog off" is doubtful; polite form of "bugger off", perhaps?

By the way, did your fascinating document mention that the connection between pedogogical punishment in English schools and addiction to "le vice anglais" in later life was known as early as the seventeenth century?.

??

Tony, you've lost me. "pedagogical punishment"? "vice anglais"? No comprendo.

Sorry to be cryptic, Céline. I forgot for a moment that you were never at an English boys' public boarding school, you lucky thing.
A look here will make all clear:
http://omf.blogspot.com/2005/02/might-as-well-give-up.html

Thanks for the explanation, Tony. It's not that kind of document, it deals with the impact of Labour policies on London schools; no talk of sadomasochism, although I know a few teachers who might say that you have to be a masochist to work in education!

céline, found this for you:
http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-bog1.htm

generally the worldwidewords site is a wonderful resource, you should bookmark it. best.

Bog standard means something made to the Blueprint Original Graphic in reference to diazo print copies of draughtsmans design drawings. i.e the part is exact to drawing, which gradually became to mean "basic".

1. Mightn't Blair have meant 'hedge school,' which was a common name in Ireland for teachings that were held outdoors for lack of a building?
2. 'Bog' is/was fairly common in British English for 'toilet': "I was sitting on the bog when . . ."
3. The suggestion offered that it is an acronym used on mechanical drawings or blueprints and meaning that the machinist should make the part exactly to the size in the drawing. This is extremely unlikely! Parts drawings made for the machine shop always contain complete and extremely accurate measurements which machinists are meant to follow using calipers and micrometers graduated in 1/100ths and 1/1000ths of an inch. Machinists are expressly required to follow those measurement and not simply "step off" the sizes from the drawings. Lazy machinists would do exactly that using compasses and the results would be parts of the wrong size. In many engineering schools you can or could find evidence of a practical joke based on this. It is in every respect a real mechanical drawing meant to be sent down to the machine shop. But the drawing is an optical illusion. It looks like a three-tined fork--but when you try to "step off" the measurements, you find that the right side of it shows only two tines and resembles a tuning fork--while the left still has--or seems to gave--three. This drawing was sent down to bedevil lazy machinists, who would go a little batty trying to step off measurements for an object the didn't exist