When I think of the word brick I am reminded of the descriptive phrase “thick as a brick” This describes an individual who is not very bright, slow on the uptake, a dullard, thick, slow-witted, not the sharpest knife in the drawer, not the coldest beer in the fridge – you get the general idea. In the insult banter of the day if you wanted to dismiss someone you would say,”Her? Why she’s thick as a brick!”
Brick also figures prominently in the title of a famous song by Jethro Tull, “Thick as a Brick”. This was one of my favourite tunes from the 70’s and is also on one of my iPhone playlists. 
“OF COURSE
So you ride yourselves over the fields and
you make all your animal deals and
your wise men don’t know how it feels to be thick as a brick.”
Whenever I get a hankering for the 70’s I listen to this playlist. There is also Brick by Brick by the Arctic Monkeys and Brick by Boring Brick by Paramore neither of which are on my playlists.
For such a stolid sounding word and prosaic everyday appearance, bricks seem to provide inspiration to artists (e.g. The Art of the Brick) and musicians.
I have always admired brick houses, they seem more reliable, safer and better able to stand up to the elements than other houses. Obviously I took the 3 little pigs story too seriously when I was younger.
