Good heavens, is this really used to refer to a shapely woman in the US?! Is this true all over the US?
Cecil mentions the UK and Australia as places where this phrase only refers to powerfully built men. This is true of Canada as well - I have never heard this phrase applied to shapely women in Canada and indeed can’t even conceive of it being so applied.
If a woman were referred to in Canada as being built like a brick shithouse, it would mean a very muscular, tough woman. I’ve almost always heard the phrase used to refer to men.
Same here. This is the only usage I’ve encountered in Canada, and was a bit surprised when I encountered it in American fiction in a way that obviously referred to a stacked woman.
Well, up her in Minnesota, I’ve heard that phrase used for years. And it always referred to a very “well-stacked”, top-heavy woman. Not necessarily a “beautiful” one, either.
I understood the reasoning behind this phrase to be as follows:
Shithouses (outhouse type) are temporary structures. You have to move them every couple of years as the hole fills up. Thus they are normally built as temporary (cheap & shoddy) construction, to be torn down & replaced with a new one in a few years, or are build as sturdy but light structures, to be picked up and moved in a few years.
So a “brick shithouse” is by definition vastly over-built for it’s purpose.
Now as mammals, the ‘purpose’ of female brests is to provide milk for infants. That doesn’t take huge brests – even very flat-chested women are able to brest-feed a child effectively.
So a very large-breasted woman is, like a brick shithouse, vastly over-built for the intended purpose.
Also, the only reason for building shithouse out of bricks is to impress the men of the neighborhood. This saying seems to imply that the same is true of a very well-stacked woman.
t-bonham@scc.net is absolutely correct. The use of the term to designate an attractive woman is a case of modern speakers being unfamiliar with the purpose of an outhouse. Or just another example of the carelessness of modern speakers, as, e.g., “I could care less.” meaning, of course, “I couldn’t care less.” Three cheers for t-bonham.
I lived on a lake in central Illinois One day, my father, grandfather and I saw a very well endowed young lady in a nice bathing suit . “She’s built like a brickshithouse!”, my grandfather exclaimed.
My Father, surprised at this comment, “Said, what does a good looking girl have to do with a smelly outhouse?”
“She’s built SOLID”, and then cupped his hands in front of his chest, to emphasize that he ment her large breasts. It was his understanding that this ment she was built rather well.
My grandfather was from the mountains of Patton, Pensylvania. Son to a chzeck immagrant, he used to tell me about his favorite pasttime: Outhouse tipping.
He and his schoolboy chums would sneak around at night (especially holloween), and wait till certian people would go use their Outhouses. Those naughty boys would then run up and knock over the outhouse…with the poor embarrassed soul inside
Of course, being young and stupid, they always attacked from the same direction. So one of their frequent victims got smart and move the out house away from the hole. And then covered up the hole with cameoflage. When my grandfather and his boys tried their trick, the fell into the open cesspool.
There is a well-known song from the '70s in the U.S. called “Brick House”. It goes:
(The dashes represent a pause, not an expletive deletion.)
It goes on to describe this woman as “36-24-36” and “built like an Amazon”. I’m surprised so many people haven’t heard this song, as it’s very commonly played in American movies and such when an extremely attractive woman appears.
In Australia, the term is used in reference to something that is solid and durable such that an item built like a brick shithouse is a rugged, reliable and durable. It can refer to people, football players, boxers etc and is meant to convey a sense of strength.
I have never heard it used in connotation to well endowed females.
I first encountered it in the writings of Robert Heinlein. He grew up in Missouri circa 1910. The Commodores song the column mentions is the one Tradnor quotes - sung by Lionel Richie. Some group recently released a new version, with Lionel helping out on the “'ouse”.
It’s not really that common a saying in the U.S., maybe some places more than others. But yes, that song is used in movies to signify a hot, typically stacked, woman.
I’d say that it was not uncommon when I was growing up in 1950’s America. I doubt that it was the place in the US, but rather the time. It was a 1930’s-60’s expression in the US and then it disappeared.
The fact that Canadians don’t seem to have picked up on it doesn’t surprise me. The Americanization of Canada was rather slight until the 1970’s and later.
And the mind of this 1950’s teen understood it to refer to the size of the ladie’s hooters. They couldn’t be just average. They had to be supersized. Lukecash makes a briliant first post. The idea of solid is the correct one.
My only experience of this has been from my choir teacher saying she was built like a brick dollhouse (said nicely in front of the children) when she was wearing her robes for her church choir. My teacher is quite a fat woman and the robes did absolutely nothing for her.
So does this fit with your solid theory?
We use the term to describe well-built guys here in New Zealand, as they do in Australia. Gotta say – hearing it have a different gender of meaning over in North America was a bit of a stunner.
The article’s right – gotta watch what you say when not in your native land. Whew!
I was SHOCKED to see the cartoon and read this prase on the home page. We have this listed as a link for children to use to ask scientific questions. I am not sure that we refer to this site anymore, not knowing that the link is safe for kids.