When I think of brick I think of the Famous Five's Aunt Fanny. She really was such a brick - what with all the lashings of lemonade she dashed out and her willingness to turn a blind eye while the youngsters rampaged across the countryside running down villains and having a jolly good time of it.
Funny how language and names shift in popularity and meaning isn't it! Today my Dad was talking about the Frank Sinatra LP - Songs for Swinging Lovers... If we took the modern meaning, the car keys would be on the turntable too! Poor Frank, he'll be turning in his grave... (or maybe just giving a saucy wink!).
Look George it's easy... you just type the word Fanny in google image search... Auntie is such a brick, I'd really love to illustrate this post with a picture of her...
And for those interested in where these things come from, I found this...
"brick of a person -- A good, solid, substantial person that you can rely upon. The expression is said to have originated with King Lycurgus of Sparta, who was questioned about the absence of defensive walls around his city. 'There are Sparta's walls,' he replied, pointing at his soldiers, 'and every man is a brick.'" From the "Encyclopedia of Word and Phrase Origins" by Robert Hendrickson (Facts on File, New York, 1997).
Post 2 of the Blogging A to Z Challenge... (all going well so far)...
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heheheh love it! My most favourite book when I was a kid was The Famous Five go to Mystery Moore, I read it over and over and I remember Aunt fanny too!
ReplyDeleteLove the fact about Sparta. Very cool! I am just swinging by (hehe) to say hello. I'm one of the minions helping with the challenge and you are on my list. Glad I discovered your blog and it's very nice to meet you!! :)
ReplyDeleteI learn something every day. I didn't know the origin of the saying, and I hoard bits of info like that, so thanks for that one.
ReplyDeleteWhat I loved about the books I read up to age 11 or 12 was the way children could go off adventuring on their own, which pretty well mirrored our own childhood in WW2.
So good that children read Enid. Have you seen the film Enid' about her? Interesting post.
Language is so amazing, that's why there's such a power in writing. Love it!
ReplyDeletehhmm, intriguing, I would not liked to have been a brick in those circumstance ;)
ReplyDeleteThis looks like a very fun and inspiring project. I'm looking forward to following along. Love A&B so far - lookin good.
ReplyDeleteMarji......x
I love the saying that someone is a brick... we still use it in our house... and I can't wait to see what the random generator spits out for some of the others...xx
ReplyDeleteWas wondering if you have the term bricking it???? comes from Sh**ing bricks... meaning to be scared... thought it was relevant in an odd way ...xx
ReplyDeleteHaha I remember the good old Famous Five which I read when I was about 10 as well. My Dad always told me that the good guys smoked pipes and the bad guys always smoked cigarettes! Funny times! Enjoying following your alphabet journey, what a great idea.
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