bog-standard

• bog standard, bogstandard

Of uncertain etymology, but probably derived from a corruption of box-standard under influence from bog (“shitter, coarse slang for an outhouse or toilet”), possibly via bog-wheel (“Cambridge slang for bicycle”),[1] or from bog (“unsettled swampland”) in reference to a lack of sophistication or polish.[2] Sometimes folk etymologized as separately deriving from bog (“toilet”) + standard after a supposed similarity among chamberpots or toilets[2] (despite box-standard predating it by a century and bog's original use only in reference to latrines and outhouses) or from the unattested acronym BOG standing for British or German.[3]

bog standard

1. (Britain slang, derogatory) Utterly basic, ordinary, or standard; unremarkable, unexceptional, etc.
   • 1962 April, Motor Sport, p. 283:

     Bog standard Sprite, 1959, two owners.

   • 1972 May 15, Daily Mirror, p. 21:

     She was ‘bog standard’—meaning straight from the production line without modifications.

• See Thesaurus:common or Thesaurus:normal

• bogey
• boggo

• “Bog-standard” in Michael Quinion, Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, 2004, →ISBN.