ChatterBank1 min ago
brick shithouse
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where does the expression "built like a brick shithouse" come from?
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For more on marking an answer as the "Best Answer", please visit our FAQ.Aaah, the wonderful imagary of the English language! The comparison is used to denote someone of considerable size and strength, it probably derives from Victorian public conveniences, which were brick-built and of solid and lasting construction - large numbers of them have only recently been closed and demolished, but let's not get into that area shall we?
In 1976, a book called 'High Flying Birds', by P Cave, contained the following: 'Nothing wrong with it - safe as a brick-built shithouse,' I assured her. That was the very first occasion on which all the elements of your question - though not in exactly your format - ever appeared in print. Later versions are simply modifications of that original.
Most houses used to have a brick built bog at the end of the garden, which presumably needed to be strong enough to withstand the wind(!) and weather, so I always took it to mean something/someone solidly built like the incredible hulk or that rugby player who was on Jonathan Ross, or her wot used to be on Emmerdale .
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