Written by Azizi Powell
“Brick house” is a complimentary descriptive referent for certain females which was coined by Shirley Hanna-King, the wife of a member of the R&B group “The Commodores”. According to that usage, "brick house" (also found as "brickhouse") [noun] is a curvaceous, "stacked", attractive female.
There are anecdotal statements on the Commodore's "Brick House" YouTube video viewer comment threads from women who remember being called a “brickhouse” after that record was released. There are also comments on those discussion threads from women who having heard that record, claim that they are a “brickhouse”. However, even in those discussion threads, it appears that a lot of viewers of the Commodores’ “Brick House” video, and/or listeners of the “Brick House” sound file aren’t sure what “brick house” (“brick house”) means in relation to females.
Clearly, “brick house” (or “brickhouse”) didn’t make into the A level of slang terms, that is - words or phrases that have been coined by African Americans relatively recently which have been quickly accepted by that population: words such as “old school”, “shout out”, and “bling” (or “bling bling”). Another A level slang category that “brick house”, “brickhouse” failed to achieve is words or phrases that were well known and have been used for a period of time by African Americans but have since largely been retired by that population: words such as “Yo!”, “Word up!”, and “out of sight”.
Of course, since “brick house” (or “brickhouse”) didn’t make it into the A level of slang terms, it certainly didn’t make it into the A+ level - slang terms that are well known by African Americans and are still used after a considerable amount of time; words and phrases like “jive”, “jam”, and “funky".
Many words from both of those A levels have been adopted by non-African Americans who may not use them correctly and may continue to use them long after African Americans have moved on to other slang terms – words like “dig”, “cool”, and “hip”. But “brick house” (“brickhouse”) doesn’t have anywhere near the status of any of those African American slang terms.
In this post, I attempt to delineate my thoughts on why “brick house”/”brickhouse” as a referent for curvaceous women has such a low score in the world of African American slang terms.
Point #1: “Brick house” already has a well known, firmly established meaning - a building for human habitation that is made out of - “bricks”.
Axiom #1: It’s not easy to supplant a well known, firmly established definition with a newly coined word, phrase, or idiom.
**
Point #2: Both “brick” and “house” have negative colloquial connotations.
Brick - an unintelligent person. Derived from "dumb as a brick."
http://onlineslangdictionary.com/meaning-definition-of/brick
Also , “If you talk to someone and they do not listen to you, it is like talking to a brick wall”.
http://www.usingenglish.com/reference/idioms/talking+to+a+brick+wall.html
-snip-
House – as in “big as a house”:
“now and days if you call a girl a brick howse lol she going think you calling her brickhouse lol aka look big or fat lol “
-Change- bostonguy, 2011, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rrBx6mAWYPU Commodore’s – Brick House
Also, click http://sports.yahoo.com/blogs/nfl-shutdown-corner/hello-house-too-big-nfl-200948099--nfl.htm for an article about a male football player whose nickname is “House” who has been determined to be too big to play in the NFL.
[And yes, I recognize the built in societal assumption that females don’t want to be considered described as being big or fat. But just because that assumption isn’t right, it still exists.]
Axiom #2: It’s not easy to give a positive connotation or connotations to words, phrases, or idioms that already have a negative connotation.
**
Point #3: “The term “brick house” and “bricks” are associated with excrement:
“solid as a sh&t brick house”, and “sh&&ting bricks”.
http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2458/how-did-the-phrase-built-like-a-brick-shithouse-get-to-be-a-compliment
Axiom #3 [which is related to Axiom #2] Unless they are pre-teens and teenagers, or acting as though they are pre-teens or teenagers, people don’t like to be described in terms that are associated with excrement.
**
Point #4: There’s already a positive colloquial definition for “brick”, and that definition has nothing whatsoever to do with a curvaceous, attractive woman:
...“'you're a real brick' is you're really dependable, i can rely on you. “ http://forum.wordreference.com/showthread.php?t=87069
See Axiom #1.
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Point #5: If there are already standard & colloquial terms whose meanings fit what you are trying to say, why would anyone use a term that has so much associated baggage?
See Axiom #1, #2, and #3
**
Point #6: There are numerous slang meanings for the word “house”, many of which are associated with the music genre “House” (which supposedly got its name because it first developed in the early 1980s- a few years after the Commodore’s “Brick House record - in a Chicago, Illinois (night)club named “The Warehouse”, and then in New York City, and elsewhere. For example, the saying “I’ll house you” comes from the title and lyrics of the now classic 1989 Jungle Brothers record. I gather that “I’ll house you” has both a sexual meaning and a meaning that threatens violence, and can also mean other things. But I’m not sure about that since I’m not well versed in House music vernacular. Click http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/House_music for information about House music.
If the term “brick house” was moving toward acceptance outside of that Commodore’s song, the arrival of stronger, more widely accepted colloquial usages of the word “house” sapped what was already a weakened acceptance (because of points I already made).
Axiom #4: When it comes to newly coined words or new meanings of already established words, it’s usually a matter of the survival of the fittest.
-snip-
So, there you have it. That’s my take on why “Brick house” is a pretty good dance song, but a rather lousy slang term.
FEATURED VIDEO: Brick House - The Commodores (1977)
Djbuddyloveoldschool, Uploaded on Dec 18, 2010
"Brick House" was a funk/disco song from The Commodores' 1977 album "Commodores" and is one of their most popular songs. The single peaked at #5 in the U.S. Hot 100 and #4 in the U.S. R&B chart. With Walter Orange's squeaking/growling voice on the lead, and Ronald LaPread's roundtone bassline, this cut has become a popular sex anthem and party favorite worldwide. The popularity and chart success of "Brick House" helped propel the group into the spotlight as a premier R&B act. The Commodores were an American funk/soul band of the 1970s and 1980s...
RELATED LINK
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brick_House_(song)
“Although not originally credited, the Commodores have publicly acknowledged Shirley Hanna-King as writer. Shirley Hanna-King modified the expression "built like a brick sh&thouse" for the song.” [That word is fully spelled out in that article].
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT AND THANKS
The content of this post is presented for etymological and entertainment reasons.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to the composer of "Brick House" and thanks to the Commodores for their musical legacy. My thanks also to the authors & commenters who are quoted in this post, and to the uploader of this video.
Also, thank you for visiting pancocojams.
Viewer comments are welcome
Friday, January 25, 2013
Why “Brick House” Didn’t Become A Widely Accepted Slang Term
Posted on 11:09 AM by Unknown
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