Replies

1. 
   ProBozo | Jul 17, 2003 02:00am | #1

   Old timers?  Ha!  I'm under 40, and have always called it that...and my pappy called it that....and grandpaw called it chimbely......

   No answer to the color question, though.

1. 
   IMERC | Jul 17, 2003 03:06am | #2

   Luck of the draw.

2. 
   FastEddie1 | Jul 17, 2003 05:30am | #3

   Are the whiter bricks the fire brick?

   Charles Dickens used the word in Oliver Twist, chapter 3.

   Do it right, or do it twice.

   
   

   ---

   Edited 7/16/2003 10:32:36 PM ET by ELCID72

3. 
   Dinosaur | Jul 17, 2003 05:57am | #4

   The 'whiter, smoother bricks' could just be a blond, fine-grained brick, but could also be firebricks. The firebox must be made of these, and the flue pipe must be made from fire-clay or an approved steel liner. I hadn't noticed that 'most' chimneys were set up with yellow brick inside the house and red brick above the roof. I know it's difficult to match the colour of yellow bricks when doing repairs; maybe the mason couldn't find anything to match and just redid the whole chimney from the roof up in standard red brick. I've had to do it this way on occasion for that reason.

   Why is it pronounced 'chimbley' by some old-timers? A sociology type would call it 'regional variation of pronunciation uncorrected by exposure to global media,' which was more likely to occur (a) 50-70 years ago (b) in country districts. AFAIK there is no entymological track to a more esoteric explanation.

   Dinosaur

   'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?

1. 
   LittleLloyd | Jul 17, 2003 03:24pm | #7

   I like the regional dialect explanation.  I am from the midwest so we get blamed for the blanding of the American dialect.  Apparently they like news casters with midwestern accents because it is most easily understood by the rest of America.

   Now if we could just get everyone to drink a pop while playing duck duck grey duck. :)

   As to the fire-brick explanation.  I am keen on that as I also do pottery and am always looking for cheap fire-brick.  Maybe I will toss one of those blond bricks into a kiln next time I fire and see if it comes out a melted blob or holds up to the test.

   Cheers All

   Cledwyn

1. 
   IanDG | Jul 17, 2003 07:39pm | #8

   In UK it's normal to use common bricks for the structure of the chimney where it's not exposed and facing brick above the roof line to match the remainder of the brickwork on the house.No difference in strength but a large difference in cost.As to the 'chimbly', I've also heard 'family' pronounced 'fambly' here so it may be a dialect.

   IanDG

   Edited 7/17/2003 12:40:57 PM ET by IanDG

2. 
   Dinosaur | Jul 18, 2003 07:42am | #9

   I was exiled for 6 years as a teenager to a burg outside 'The Mistake on the Lake' (a/k/a Cleveland Ohio. Coming from the east, I had to learn 'pop' for soda (which in Boston is 'tonic' BTW) and quite a few other regional terms. Mostly it wasn't too hard to figure out. But when I wanted to order an ice cream soda, I really hit a brick wall--I think it took a good ten minutes of describing what I wanted and getting progressively more frustrated when finally a second employee in 'the Rexall' piped up, 'Oh, he wants a vanilla phosphate!'

   I never did find anyone west of the eastern terminus of the Mason-Dixon line who knew what an egg-cream was, though....Dinosaur

   'Y-a-tu de la justice dans ce maudit monde?

4. 
   kostello | Jul 17, 2003 10:12am | #5

   if the white ones are out of site inside the house i would say that its because they are cheaper than the red facing bricks used above the roof.

   seems daft to send extra on bricks that never get seen

   aleks

5. 
   Piffin | Jul 17, 2003 01:43pm | #6

   The chimney above roof line takes severe weathering and often gets replaced after about a hundred years.

   .

   Excellence is its own reward!