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What's she like?
April 29, 2005, 19:46
CaterwaullerWhat's she like?
House on Fire made me wonder when and why "brick house" became something good . . .
Urban Dictionary had a very brief definition.
I've found many other brick related slang words, too . . . Brickteacher: A teacher who knows the whole class will fail at the task she is about to assign, but does it anyway.
Anyone wanna talk about
brick house?
*******
"Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.
~Dalai Lama
April 30, 2005, 00:15
tinmanquote:
Originally posted by Caterwauller:
Anyone wanna talk about
brick house?
How's
this ?
Tinman
April 30, 2005, 03:46
CaterwaullerWow, Tinners - you are good! Of course, I didn't realize the phrase had affiliations with outhouses at all! I had no idea!
So . . . is it good to be like a brick house, or is it just a veiled way of being derogatorized?
*******
"Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.
~Dalai Lama
April 30, 2005, 06:39
BobHaleIn the UK I've never heard the phrase "built like a brick shithouse" (or the "outhouse" variant) used in any sense other than to describe a solid muscular man and I've never heard the phrase "a brick house" at all.
"No man but a blockhead ever wrote except for money." Samuel Johnson.
April 30, 2005, 06:43
<Asa Lovejoy>I tend to think of the term as meaning "built like a linebacker," not as something highly attractive. As Tinman's link states, that was the earlier interpretation, so maybe I'm just "not with it!"
April 30, 2005, 08:24
Caterwaullerquote:
I've never heard the phrase "a brick house" at all.
Do you not know the Commodores' song?
Chorus:
She's a brick----house
Mighty might just lettin' it all hang out
She's a brick----house
The lady's stacked and that's a fact,
ain't holding nothing back.
She's a brick----house
She's the one, the only one,
who's built like a amazon [pronounced am-a-ka-zawn]
We're together everybody knows,
and here's how the story goes.
The full link is in my original post.
*******
"Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.
~Dalai Lama
April 30, 2005, 08:24
amnowMy son assures me that the phrase is very much in use, especially at such gathering places as Hooters.
April 30, 2005, 08:24
CaterwaullerWell yes, thank you amnow. That's what I'm a-talkin' about!
As in:
My, my, my, that baby's got back, and she's built like a brick (pronounced bree-ick) house.
*******
"Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.
~Dalai Lama
I've also rarely come across the phrase other than in the 'brick shithouse' form already mentioned. Many years ago someone would have been considered a good and reliable person if he/she was described as 'a real brick' but that seems to be a very antiquated saying to me now.
May 02, 2005, 05:39
CaterwaullerI wondered if those two phrases are related, somehow. "Brick House" and "brick of a guy" . . . but it appears they're not.
*******
"Happiness is not something ready made. It comes from your own actions.
~Dalai Lama
May 03, 2005, 00:43
tinmanquote:
Originally posted by Caterwauller:
I wondered if those two phrases are related, somehow. "Brick House" and "brick of a guy" . . . but it appears they're not.
It seems obvious to me they're related. Both refer to being well-built. Look again at
The Straight Dope column that I posted April 30.
Tinman
They are related if the meaning for a man is 'well built' but the meaning I was thinking of was that a person was merely considered a 'good chap' and in that respect it is certainly very old fashioned as I never hear it these days.
May 03, 2005, 03:18
Richard English"He's a real brick". Very Biggles!
Richard English
Build a man a fire and he's warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he's warm for the rest of his life.
Or Angela Brazil (which, by the bye, is pronounced Brazzle):
You're a Brick, Angela! is a classic 1976 study of girls' fiction.