# Is the phrase "bricks and mortar" common in the US? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 22, 2013, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phrase-bricks-and-mortar-common-in-the-us/666863 "2013-08-22T11:05:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phrase-bricks-and-mortar-common-in-the-us/666863/21 "2013-08-22T14:49:51Z")
> [@Ronald\_Raygun](#): > > American here. Used the term yesterday to draw a distinction between an online university and a traditional university. “Brick-and-mortar” (no s) is widely understood here. On a slight tangent, we have the phrase ‘red brick university’ in the UK, to denote a university that was founded in one of our victorian, industrial cities before WWI, when the university buildings would have been built almost entirely in red brick, which was vastly popular in the victorian era. Originally, the term would have been derogatory, comparing these new universities to the ancient ones of Oxford and Cambridge, but these days to say ‘I went to a red brick university’ carries some prestige in comparison with newer unis. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phrase-bricks-and-mortar-common-in-the-us/666863/22 "2013-08-22T14:55:24Z")
> [@Mangetout](#): > > “in the high street” or similar. Of course, the American version of “high street” is “Main Street,” but it is used almost exclusively as a counterpoint to “Wall Street,” to emphasize the difference between small, local businesses and the big financial industry. ---
**Author:** ![Spud](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spud/32/347_2.png) [@Spud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spud)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 3:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phrase-bricks-and-mortar-common-in-the-us/666863/23 "2013-08-22T15:11:22Z")
I work in the resort, condo, hotel industry, and “Bricks and Sticks” is commonly used jargon for the physical buildings in our industry. Brick(s) and Mortar is common everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 3:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phrase-bricks-and-mortar-common-in-the-us/666863/24 "2013-08-22T15:13:30Z")
I read/hear a lot of North American media here in Canada, especially American. I have never ever noticed the term without the plural, I guess I’ll have to watch for it. But yes, the major application of the term here is almost exclusively to refer to a retailer with a wide physical presence (multiple physical stores) versus one that is strictly online. Usually this is in a discussion about the advantages and disadvantages of having such - i.e. the need to collect multiple state sales taxes, or the showrooming phenomenon - where people come into a store to look at goods, then order the same item online from a cheaper non-b&m retailer. I don’t remember hearing it in the strictly real-estate context except in spill-over from the internet-related meaning. I have never heard it applied to non-commercial buildings. “Brick” as an adjective can indicate a texture, colour, mode of construction - “brick wall, brick building, yellow brick road”. Brick/bricks as a noun, is more precise in it’s enumeration. “I hit him with a brick”, “thick as a brick”, “they delivered a pallet of bricks”, “he laid another course of bricks”. (Although in the latter, it could be a collective noun too, “he laid another course of brick”) It can also be a verb, “I bricked him into the wall while humming about a cask of Amontillado”. ---
**Author:** ![outlierrn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/outlierrn/32/3005_2.png) [@outlierrn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/outlierrn)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phrase-bricks-and-mortar-common-in-the-us/666863/25 "2013-08-22T18:15:19Z")
I’ve been hearing it a lot in the last few years, but only in the online vs physical context. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phrase-bricks-and-mortar-common-in-the-us/666863/26 "2013-08-22T18:21:28Z")
You occasionally hear it in franchise businesses. “John Smith owns the bricks and mortar, but McDonald’s Corporation owns the name.” I’m in the southwestern U.S. ---
**Author:** ![dstarfire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dstarfire/32/5762_2.png) [@dstarfire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dstarfire)\ **Post date:** [August 22, 2013, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phrase-bricks-and-mortar-common-in-the-us/666863/27 "2013-08-22T18:40:18Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > Maybe we say it differently in the UK. I’d say it’s more unusual for colloquial phrases like that to match up on either side of the Atlantic. For me, the default assumption is that my colloquialisms are meaningless, at best, to somebody from another country, and vice-versa. ---
**Author:** ![sinjin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ebca7d/32.png) [@sinjin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sinjin)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 2:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phrase-bricks-and-mortar-common-in-the-us/666863/28 "2013-08-23T14:59:38Z")
In RV circles in the US it is common to refer to houses as “sticks and bricks”🆒 ---
**Author:** ![EdwardLost](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@EdwardLost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EdwardLost)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phrase-bricks-and-mortar-common-in-the-us/666863/29 "2013-08-23T17:29:31Z")
The phrase isn’t completely familiar in the US yet. A while ago my wife and I were discussing getting a new computer and I told her I wanted to buy one at a brick-and-morter store. She could not understand why anyone would shop for a computer at Home Depot. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 8:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phrase-bricks-and-mortar-common-in-the-us/666863/30 "2013-08-23T20:03:04Z")
> [@Lord\_Mondegreen](#): > > I’m in Australia, and use the expression “bricks [plural] and mortar.” Then again I watch a lot of British shows like “Grand Designs” so I may have got it from there. 🙂 > > The plural “bricks” makes sense to me because a building is made of bricks and mortar rather than one brick and mortar, but I understand why an argument could also be made for the singular. We’ll refer to a brick house or a stone house, even though obviously more than one brick or stone went into the construction. ---
**Author:** ![yearofglad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/b782af/32.png) [@yearofglad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yearofglad)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phrase-bricks-and-mortar-common-in-the-us/666863/31 "2013-08-23T20:59:00Z")
> [@EdwardLost](#): > > The phrase isn’t completely familiar in the US yet. A while ago my wife and I were discussing getting a new computer and I told her I wanted to buy one at a brick-and-morter store. She could not understand why anyone would shop for a computer at Home Depot. By that rationale, the word “brick” isn’t completely familiar in the US yet, either, as there is surely at least one person who doesn’t know what it means. ---
**Author:** ![Alley\_Dweller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alley_dweller/32/430_2.png) [@Alley\_Dweller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alley_Dweller)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phrase-bricks-and-mortar-common-in-the-us/666863/32 "2013-08-23T22:32:29Z")
> [@EdwardLost](#): > > The phrase isn’t completely familiar in the US yet. A while ago my wife and I were discussing getting a new computer and I told her I wanted to buy one at a brick-and-morter store. She could not understand why anyone would shop for a computer at Home Depot. This caused much mirth. Thanks for sharing. ---
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [August 23, 2013, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phrase-bricks-and-mortar-common-in-the-us/666863/33 "2013-08-23T23:23:45Z")
I’m American and use “brick and mortar”, I would have no idea “Bricks and mortar” would mean a home if I heard it, I have only ever heard it used in the context of a physical store location vs an online shop. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phrase-bricks-and-mortar-common-in-the-us/666863/34 "2013-08-24T00:31:25Z")
I’ve only heard “bricks and mortar,” but I’ve only ever heard it here, so I could be hearing the British version. I never heard it in the US, but I left there before the Internet took off, which matters because I’ve only heard it in the context of a physical shop as opposed to an online business. There were no online businesses when I last lived in the US. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phrase-bricks-and-mortar-common-in-the-us/666863/35 "2013-08-24T00:59:48Z")
> [@SanVito](#): > > [Bricks (plural) and mortar](https://www.facebook.com/pages/Bricks-Mortar-in-The-Times/278149326080) is the property section of The Times (what Americans call the Times _of London_). I read about the British Open in The Times of London! ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 1:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phrase-bricks-and-mortar-common-in-the-us/666863/36 "2013-08-24T01:40:07Z")
SanVito writes: \> On a slight tangent, we have the phrase ‘red brick university’ in the UK, to \> denote a university that was founded in one of our victorian, industrial cities \> before WWI, when the university buildings would have been built almost \> entirely in red brick, which was vastly popular in the victorian era. \> \> Originally, the term would have been derogatory, comparing these new \> universities to the ancient ones of Oxford and Cambridge, but these days to \> say ‘I went to a red brick university’ carries some prestige in comparison with \> newer unis. For those who aren’t familiar with the history of universities in the U.K., this may help: > **[List of universities in the United Kingdom by date of foundation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_UK_universities_by_date_of_foundation)** > > This is a list of Universities in the United Kingdom by the date of their foundation as universities. > In many cases the supposed date of foundation as a university is open to debate, particularly for the ancient universities. Modern universities have seen similar debate, with some universities having a heritage as educational institutions that pre-dates their current foundation or recognition as a university by over a hundred years, e.g. the use of 'Est 1824' on the University of Manchester ... Up through 1795, there were only two universities in England and four in Scotland. From 1796 to 1895, there were six more universities established in England, one more in Scotland, four in Wales, and one in Northern Ireland. Then from 1880 to 1909 there were six more established in the large cities of England. These six are usually the ones referred to as the red brick ones. There was another wave of the establishment of seven universities from 1920 to 1957. There was one more of the establishment of universities from 1961 to 1969. This last group is usually called the plate glass universities. There were three more from 1969 to 1974. Up to 1992, there was a group of institutions that were referred to as polytechnics. In 1992 through 1994, 38 of them were renamed as universities. In 2001 through the present, 36 more were renamed as universities. To an American, this is rather surprising. In 1992, when there were a couple of thousand colleges and universities in the U.S., there were 37 of them in the U.K. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phrase-bricks-and-mortar-common-in-the-us/666863/37 "2013-08-24T01:41:25Z")
Actually, many Americans call it _The London Times_, which sounds even stranger to a Brit. ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 2:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phrase-bricks-and-mortar-common-in-the-us/666863/38 "2013-08-24T02:16:23Z")
Also the verb “to brick” as in “I bricked my PC while trying to upgrade the BIOS.” ---
**Author:** ![Glazer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a88e57/32.png) [@Glazer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glazer)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phrase-bricks-and-mortar-common-in-the-us/666863/39 "2013-08-24T02:18:36Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > These rules have been given unto you this day by God : > Thou shalt use the plural when you are talking about the individual objects, > and thou shalt use the singular when you all talking about the general appearance of a building. > > In the singular, “Brick” is a general description, similar to a color. You say “brick wall” just like you would say “glass wall” or a white wall. > In the plural, “bricks” means you are emphasizing the individual objects. > > Point to “a large pile of bricks”, and the listener is mentally counting how many there are in the pile. > Point to “a wall faced with brick”, and the listener is focussing on the color,texture and appearance of the wall. > > “I had trouble walking on the patio because the rough surface was made of bricks”—draws attention to the individual bricks, the gaps between them and the way they are aligned with each other. > > “I had trouble painting the patio, because the rough surface was made of brick” —draws attention to the general appearance and texture of the wall itself, not the inidividual red blocks it is made of. > > **Yea, verily, I say unto thee, that all these commandments thou shalt obey whenever thou speakest of bricks.** > > 🙂 Since these commandments apply when speaking about any brick. It is referencing all bricks. Therefore the proper reading should be: Yea, verily, I say unto thee, that all these commandments thou shalt obey whenever thou speakest of brick. > [@md2000](#): > > . > > “Brick” as an adjective can indicate a texture, colour, mode of construction - “brick wall, brick building, yellow brick road”. Brick/bricks as a noun, is more precise in it’s enumeration. “I hit him with a brick”, “thick as a brick”, “they delivered a pallet of bricks”, “he laid another course of bricks”. (Although in the latter, it could be a collective noun too, “he laid another course of brick”) > It can also be a verb, “I bricked him into the wall while humming about a cask of Amontillado”. But you wouldn’t pluralize a verb anyhow. > [@Wendell\_Wagner](#): > > To an American, this is rather surprising. In 1992, when there were a couple of thousand colleges and universities in the U.S., there were 37 of them in the U.K. Not when you remember that Great Britain is only the size of a medium sized State. ---
**Author:** ![rogerbox](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/76d3ee/32.png) [@rogerbox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rogerbox)\ **Post date:** [August 24, 2013, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phrase-bricks-and-mortar-common-in-the-us/666863/40 "2013-08-24T02:19:14Z")
Also a “brick” is when the ball bounces off of the hoop without going in, in basketball. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phrase-bricks-and-mortar-common-in-the-us/666863.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/is-the-phrase-bricks-and-mortar-common-in-the-us/666863.md?page=3)