Frogs

[moose]

why are "frogs" in bricks so called ?

[moose]

this isnt a joke . someone asked me and i said id find out , anyone know ? ???

[Suggers]

As far as I'm aware, the name comes from the shape of the block nailed in the centre of the wooden form that took the brick-making slop. 1930's.
The sensitive inner part of a horse's hoof is also a "frog" - same sort of shape.
Regards - Mark S.

[moose]

thanks suggers , might be usefull in the pub quiz !

[Tony McC]

This question comes up at least once a month in emails, and usually in batches - 10-12 emails at a time all asking the same question - which suggests it's part of a quiz or assignment.

Suggers' answer is as good as any, although the frog former goes back a lot further than the 1930s. I've read somewhere that the term was in use in the early 19thC. I've also read that it is a corruption of a Dutch term, but no mention of what the original Flemish word might have been. Gazillions of bricks were inported into SE England from what were known as the "Low Countries" in previous centuries and the article (I think it was summat from the Brick Development Association) suggested that the term 'frog' came in with those bricks.

[simeonronacrete]

Look what I've found during a spare 5 minutes in the office (don't tell the boss)....

"In the 1930s the bricks were made by hand in slop moulds and the indent required a wooden former in the bottom of the mould box. This looked like a crouching frog and the name stuck despite its reference to the indent. " Jack Hill, St Albans, UK

"My family used to leave bricks in the garden, indentation down, propped up, in order to provide safe havens for wildlife, possibly frogs. So maybe the name originates from the inhabitants. " Henry Lancashire, Dusseldorf, Germany

"Because it's similar in shape to the indentation in a horse's hoof also called a frog. This could be because the shape in the hoof is similar to a frog's front end. It could also be a simple transference from the earlier name for this dent 'frush' or 'frosk', themselves contractions of fourchette or furchette." Peter Brooke, By Kinmuck, Scotland

Sim

[Suggers]

Which came first - a horse or a brick ?

[simeonronacrete]

Well, I've seen a horse come first.

[mouldmaker]

Which came first - a horse or a brick ?

A brick would stand no chance over the jumps.

But if you dropped a horse and a brick simultaneously off the side of the leaning tower of Pisa, they'd both land at exactly the same time.

[simeonronacrete]

If you took (or rode) a horse and a brick to the top of the Leaning Tower of Pisa, would the three of you would land at the same time as the tower fell over and hit the ground?

[mouldmaker]

If you tried riding the brick you wouldn't get very far, Simeon!

But if my understanding of Galileo and Newton are correct, you, the horse and the brick would land first, accelerating towards the ground at approximately 10m per second per second. The tower would describe an arc and land on you a second or two later.

I'm not sure if the same rules apply to pantomime horses though.



Edited By mouldmaker on 1137148049

[simeonronacrete]

Panto horses, whilst subject to the same laws of gravity, woud not necessarily behave in the same.

"Oh yes they would".

"Oh no they wouldn't".

[danensis]

So what if you threw Schrodinger's cat off the top of the leaning tower of pizza?

[simeonronacrete]

I think the cat would stick to the mozarella.

[TarmacLady]

But what if it were the frog riding the horse?