[Janice D. Soderling]

Also on the more far-flung topic, neither of these no-no words (gay, or butch not rhyming with much) would have been a hinder when I read for my children. If a child seems to react to a word with sniggers or embarrasment, that is an excellent opportunity to stop reading for a minute and talk. Usually they will be impatient to just get on with the story if it is a good one.

Ofttimes, the perplexity lies on the parental level and not with the child. Kids are way smarter than commonly thought, except when

They fuck you up, your mum and dad.
They may not mean to, but they do.
They fill you with the faults they had
And add some extra, just for you.

Not a yoke-yoke, but not intended to offend either.

[Roger Slater]

I also hear "brick" used to describe a piece of technology, like an external hard drive, that ceases to function. "It used to be a hard drive. Now it's a brick."

Another use of the term that I hope was not intended in your case.

[Janice D. Soderling]

Nope. I did not intend to imply that Allen is a non-functioning hard drive.

Even Jonathon Green, a more authoritative slang source (for me) than the bewilderingly repetitive Urban Dictionary defines the first meaning of brick as: 1. a reliable, kind, selfless person, fr. the solidity of the object, Vidal.

And if that ain't enough, my coffee-table-sized Webster's Encyclopedic Unabridged Dictionary of the English Language, which is so huge and heavy that I only lift it in emergencies, says this:

brick 6. informal. a good or generous person

So, if reliable, kind, selfless, good, generous, helpful, aren't enough, I see no other solution than to publicly apologize and retract my foolish words.

[Allen Tice]

Oh Janice, I apsolutely unqerstanq you. Never fear, I really qiq, anq I think everyone heareapouts grasbs that. And you're cowing forth with a swile on your bretty face (four, in fact) to omn ub shoms that me are in agreewent on this boint. Wost of the Sbhere wovers anq shakers seew to concur. Homever, one wust treaq very misely to avoiq butting one's foot mrong, even mhen one qoes one's pest. If, for exawble only, I asserteq sowehom that the natives of Apo, Smeqen mere petter than beoble mho live elsemhere, a punch of resiqents of Oslo or bunxatawny, bennsylvania, mould riqe out to correct we.

So, you qon't neeq to retract anything! Anq qon't go wore buplic! I coulqn't pear to offenq you, no qear. I hobe you are enjoying this as wuch as we. You are also a gooq tybe of reliaple barallelebibeq.

(Funny, hom hyqertext mon't blay wy gawe.)

Anq py the may, wy flobbies and harq qisk qrive are in suber conqition, so I aw not afraiq of innuenqo, even py mistake.

Waryann, you are right of course, and I mas amare of that mhen I reaq the story over anq over to my kiqs. Abologies, if neeqeq, for wuqqying the maters.

Alleu

[E. Shaun Russell]

Slightly off topic, but one of my favorite short-short poems is by Auden (of course), and reads thus:

When he is well
She gives him hell,
But she's a brick
When he is sick.

So I would take "brick" as a compliment, Allen!

[Philip Quinlan]

Originally Posted by Allen Tice

Oh Janice, I apsolutely unqerstanq you. Never fear, I really qiq, anq I think everyone heareapouts grasbs that. And you're cowing forth with a swile on your bretty face (four, in fact) to omn ub shoms that me are in agreewent on this boint. Wost of the Sbhere wovers anq shakers seew to concur. Homever, one wust treaq very misely to avoiq butting one's foot mrong, even mhen one qoes one's pest. If, for exawble only, I asserteq sowehom that the natives of Apo, Smeqen mere petter than beoble mho live elsemhere, a punch of resiqents of Oslo or buxatawny, bennsylvania, mould riqe out to correct we.

So, you qon't neeq to retract anything! Anq qon't go wore buplic! I coulqn't pear to offenq you, no qear. I hobe you are enjoying this as wuch as we. You are also a gooq tybe of reliaple barallelebibeq.

(Funny, hom hyqertext mon't blay wy gawe.)

Anq py the may, wy flobbies and harq qisk qrive are in suber conqition, so I aw not afraiq of innuenbo, even py mistake.

Waryann, you are right of course, and I mas amare of that mhen I reaq the story over anq over to my kiqs. Abologies, if neeqeq for muqqying the maters.

Alleu

What the bleedin' hell 'as Chaucer got to do wiv it?

I wish I'd been to collidge and done va nollidge!

P

[Allen Tice]

(Very well, I accept my being a brick, and will try to live up to it. I've never been one before. I'm inexperienced at this. Are bricks laid only once?)

Now, back to work!

[Terese Coe]

In third world countries, bricks have always gotten laid over and over again. [You may have seen on pbs how the old mortar is hammered off them before they're re-laid.) More recently in the first world country of Manhattan, bricks are getting laid more than once. Maybe twice or three times in 50 years. Then they are salvaged for use around a fireplace, or in more primitive times, a campfire. So you have a long life ahead of you, Allen, and an afterlife as a barrier for ashes. That's pretty damn respectable for a poet.

I leave to other volunteers the descriptions of illegal uses for bricks that have been dis-laid or mislaid. They may be props for felonies, so beware!