What is the meaning and origin of the expression “lets get down to brass tacks”?
(K. Umapati, Mysore) When you tell someone that you want to get down to brass tacks what you are saying is that you would like to talk about the basic facts of a particular situation. In other words, you would like to talk about the essentials. Here are a few examples. * Let’s get down to brass tacks. Who is going to pay for the broken window? * The General wanted to get down to brass tacks. He wanted to know how many soldiers had been posted along the border. * Let’s get down to brass tacks, shall we? Are you or are you not going to pay me? Several explanations have been provided by scholars as to the origin of this expression. Some say that in Cockney, a dialect that is spoken in London, “brass tacks” is rhyming slang for “facts”. So what you are actually saying when you say “let’s get down to brass tacks” is “let’s get down to the facts”. Another explanation is that during the old days shopkeepers used brass tacks to measure the length of a piece of cloth. I understand that people w
