bricks in vernacular

Posted on December 19, 2021

---

---

For the past, I don’t know, month or two, I’ve been incorporating the term “bricks” into my speech. I’m not exactly sure where it originated, if I came up with it myself, or if I saw someone else using it then adopted it. I do know that it has stuck with me longer than any other “meme word” that’s wiggled its way into my mind so far. And to that, I owe it respect.

Meme Words in Mind

I remember when I started saying “bruh” ironically. You see something that just isn’t right – you say “bruh”, everyone around you laughs. Maybe you vocally stretch it out to differentiate or accentuate: “bruuuuhhhh”. Soon, though, you’re not saying it for the irony – you’re saying it for real. It slips out when your Uncle says some heinous shit at the Thanksgiving table. You whisper it under your breath when you see that question on the math final – that difficult type of question you didn’t study for.

Bruh ran its course; it can still be heard today, but its meaning has largely evolved to incorporate the meme. You say bruh because it is a meme. Bruh has changed.

The Importance of B

There’s something special about the “B” sound. “Blimp” sounds funnier than “Zeppelin”, as we all know and agree. Puffing out your cheeks while you make the “B” sound adds even more to the effect – like a fat man playing the tuba, it’s humorous. “Blimp, Blance, Brandon, Bicker” … all funny words with a funny letter.

The letter itself has even been a meme before (and may still be a meme now). From the depths of the deep-fried meme communities of late 2016, the “B emoji” emerged. It was commonly used as a replacement for other letters – the emoji itself was the joke.

Suffice to say, “B” is a meme-prone letter. Words that start with B are more likely to become a meme word. It’s just a funny sound.

The Case for Bricks

I believe bricks has a very high potential to be a meme word – but also more than just a meme word. For reasons I’ll soon explain, bricks is useful, versatile, friendly, even self-detrimental. Bricks shows more than promise – it shows demonstrable applicability. 

Bricks is versatile

I started my usage of bricks by referring to single other people as “bricks”:

• Hey bricks, how’s it going? 
• Bricks, I’m telling you, there is an opportunity here.
• You do not wanna touch that, bricks. 
• Briiiiicks, that was sick.

This usage is sometimes positive, sometimes neutral. You’re essentially using it in place of their name, or a nickname, or some pronoun.

Bricks can also be colored negatively with context, or be used as an analogy:

• Our government is full of bricks.
• Total brick move, bruh.
• I am such a brick.
• This product is a pile of bricks.

Here, we can see the usage expands from individuals to groups. The meaning requires context, linguistic nuance – is it analogy, or is it irony? Am I using it for you, me, or someone else?

As I said, a versatile word.

Bricks shares a similar sound

A potential explanation for why I think bricks flows so smoothly off the tongue is because it’s reminiscent of the swear word “bitch”. To do some anatomy:

Word	The humorous “b”	The “ih” sound	A percussive conclusion
Bricks	B	ri	cks
Bitch	B	i	tch

Even middle schoolers know swear words are funny, and that they’re fun to say. I prefer not to say “bitch” in general, so for me, bricks fills that niche (along with many others).

To top it all off, bricks has a great emoji

Spamming emoji under instagram posts is a hallmark of our human generation. Because of how nuance-packed the word is, you can use it on a post you like or a post you dislike.

• If your friend posts a dope kickflip video, comment some bricks underneath. They’ll know what it means.
• Likewise, if your ex gets engaged, toss a brick in the comments. They’ll know what it means.

Bricks is a natural evolution

I see no downsides. I’ve been saying bricks for months. It just sounds right – I haven’t gotten tired of it. It just makes sense, bricks. It just makes sense.