# Origin of term **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 26, 2001, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-term/59600 "2001-03-26T23:21:22Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 5\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [March 26, 2001, 11:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-term/59600/1 "2001-03-26T23:21:22Z")
I used the expression “Brickbats to whoever”, in relation to a post I didn’t like, and then in a subsequent discussion Tracer said that he/she didn’t know what brickbats meant. And I don’t suppose I do either, and since (in my own obscure value system) using expressions I don’t understand rates as a Bad Thing, it’s about time I found out. The imagery of hitting something you don’t like with a brick bat is not too hard to understand, but can anyone throw any light on the origin of the expression? ---
**Author:** ![SpoilerVirgin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/4491bb/32.png) [@SpoilerVirgin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SpoilerVirgin)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2001, 12:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-term/59600/2 "2001-03-27T00:29:53Z")
From [http://www.dictionary.com/](http://www.dictionary.com/) **Word History** : The earliest sense of _brickbat_, recorded in a work first published in 1563, was “a piece of brick.” Such pieces of brick have not infrequently been thrown at others in the hope of injuring them; hence, the figurative _brickbats_ (first recorded in 1929) that critics hurl at performances they dislike. The appearance of _bat_ as the second part of this compound is explained by the fact that the word _bat_, “war club, cudgel,” developed in Middle English the sense “chunk, clod, wad,” and in the 16th century came to be used specifically for a piece of brick that was unbroken on one end. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2001, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-term/59600/3 "2001-03-27T01:19:34Z")
**Princhester** , did you intend for your title to be Origin of term “Brickbats to whoever” or something similar? If you have “double quotes” in the subject line, and preview the thread, then vB will chop off everything after the first quote. Solutions are to either use ‘single quotes’, to not preview, or to preview and go back to the original “new thread” page before submitting. In the meanwhile, speak the word, and **manhattan** or I will correct the title for you. ---
**Author:** ![JeffB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeffb/32/188_2.png) [@JeffB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JeffB)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2001, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-term/59600/4 "2001-03-27T01:38:00Z")
**SpoilerVirgin** is correct abou the origin. However, the OED says that the usage of _brickbats_ to mean “criticism” goes back to 1642, when Milton used it: > [@](#): > > I beseech ye friends, ere the brick-bats flye, resolve me and yourselves, is it blasphemy…for me to answer a slovenly wincer. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2001, 4:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-term/59600/5 "2001-03-27T04:19:11Z")
Err, yes please chronos or manhattan, the subject was intended to be ‘Origin of Term ‘Brickbats’’ Although really this topic seems to be all played out, basically. By the way, if the last poster, JeffB, sees this post, would he mine popping over to my earlier query on Human Land Speed Record? He has some answering to do.