Where does the expression botch job come from?

Answer 1

A botch job (variation bodge job) meaning a badly performed action or task. The Oxford English Dictionary lists the origin as unknown, according to the Chambers Dictionary a possible origin is the Middle English word bocchen, meaning to bungle.

Answer 2

I understood it may have come from the engineer Thomas Bouch who built the original railway bridge over the River Tay, Dundee in the 1890s. He did not do such a great job as some short while later on a windy rainy night the bridge collapsed and the train crossing it at the time plunged passengers to a watery grave.