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Boxing clever / box clever

Posted by Sophie on October 20, 2000

I'm a journalist and during my work I frequently seem to end up using the phrase 'boxing clever' or 'box clever' for headlines on stories about boxes of any kind (usually electronic ones that sit on top of TVs and receive cable signals or whatever). But it's just occurred to me that not only do I not know the origin of this phrase, I haven't got the foggiest what it means, either. For all I know it could be utterly obscene or something.

Can anyone help?

If anyone has any clues on how, if at all, 'boxing clever' has any relation to the film 'Boxing Helena' (an everyday story of simply folk in which a nice young lady better known as the star of 'Twin Peaks' progressively gets bits of her chopped off while being kept in a box by her boyfriend - if you haven't seen it, don't bother) I'd be interesting in those too.

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