get down to brass tacks

get down to brass tacks

English

Etymology

Unknown.[1] Earliest attestation in 1863 US, specifically Texas.[1] One theory is that it comes from the brass tacks in the counter of a hardware store or draper’s shop used to measure cloth in precise units (rather than holding one end to the nose and stretching out the arm to approximately one yard). Another possibility is the 19th-century American practice of using brass tacks to spell out the initials of the deceased on the top of their coffin. Yet another theory is that the phrase arose from the practice of adorning one’s gunstock with brass tacks, as was common in the early American West. Brass was frequently used because it could be easily polished and didn’t rust. According to author Stanley Vestal, “Brass tacks hammered into the stock of the rifle marked the tally of the mountain man’s victims. Brass tacks.”[2]

Pronunciation

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Verb

get down to brass tacks (third-person singular simple present gets down to brass tacks, present participle getting down to brass tacks, simple past got down to brass tacks, past participle gotten down to brass tacks or got down to brass tacks)

1. (idiomatic, chiefly US) To deal with the important details.
   • 1863, January 21, 1863, The Tri-Weekly Telegraph, newspaper of Houston, Texas

     When you come down to brass tacks – if we may be allowed the expression – everybody is governed by selfishness.

   • 1925 July – 1926 May, A[rthur] Conan Doyle, “(please specify the chapter number)”, in The Land of Mist (eBook no. 0601351h.html), Australia: Project Gutenberg Australia, published April 2019:

     "But I called here with a purpose. I expect you are a busy man and I know that I am, so I'll get down to the brass tacks."

   • 1935, Clifford Odets, Waiting for Lefty

     That's no answer. Get down to brass tacks.

   • 1972, Hunter S. Thompson, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas: A Savage Journey to the Heart of the American Dream

     Let's get down to brass tacks here. How much for the ape?

   • 1979, Stephen King, The Dead Zone

     We're gonna stop playing games with these Arabs and get down to brass tacks!

   • 1994, Quentin Tarantino and Roger Avary, Pulp Fiction

     You must be Jules, which would make you Vincent. Let's get down to brass tacks, gentlemen. If I was informed correctly, the clock is ticking. Is that right, Jimmie?

   • For more quotations using this term, see Citations:get down to brass tacks.

Synonyms

• get down to bedrock
• get down to business
• get down to cases, get right down to cases
• get down to the nitty-gritty
• get down to nuts and bolts
• roll up one's sleeves
• cut to the chase

Translations

deal with the important details

* German: zur Sache kommen (de) French: passer aux choses sérieuses Dutch: ter zake komen Icelandic: koma sér að efninu, (brass tacks, the heart of the matter) kjarni málsins m, (brass tacks, facts) staðreyndirnar (is) f pl, (brass tacks, the relevant issues) þau atriði sem máli skipta Italian: darsi da fare, rimboccarsi le maniche, venire al sodo, darsi una mossa, entrare nei dettagli Russian: переходить к сути дела (perexoditʹ k suti dela) Spanish: ir al grano Ukrainian: перейти до справи (perejty do spravy), перейти до суті (perejty do suti)

References

1. “brass tacks”, Wordorigins.org, Dave Wilton, Monday, May 26, 2008.
2. Stanley Vestal (1928) Kit Carson, The Happy Warrior of the Old West, A Biography, Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, page 45

• Michael Quinion (2004), “Brass tacks”, in Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds: Ingenious Tales of Words and Their Origins, Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Books in association with Penguin Books, →ISBN.