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?

quote:

Originally posted by Caterwauller:
Anyone wanna talk about brick house?

How's this ?

Tinman

Wow, 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?

In 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.

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!"

quote:

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.

My son assures me that the phrase is very much in use, especially at such gathering places as Hooters.

Well 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.

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.

I wondered if those two phrases are related, somehow. "Brick House" and "brick of a guy" . . . but it appears they're not.

quote:

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.

"He's a real brick". Very Biggles!

Or Enid Blyton...

Or Angela Brazil (which, by the bye, is pronounced Brazzle): You're a Brick, Angela! is a classic 1976 study of girls' fiction.