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Previous Thread Next Thread Print Thread Brass tacks #28268 05/03/2001 1:01 PM Joined: Apr 2001 Posts: 14 Connecticut J.P. Esquire stranger J.P. Esquire stranger Joined: Apr 2001 Posts: 14 Connecticut Whence came the phrase "get down to brass tacks"? John Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Brass tacks #28269 05/03/2001 1:06 PM Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 393 London NicholasW enthusiast NicholasW enthusiast Joined: Dec 2000 Posts: 393 London Supposedly rhyming slang for facts. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Brass tacks #28270 05/03/2001 1:12 PM Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 1,773 Sparteye Pooh-Bah Sparteye Pooh-Bah Joined: Jan 2001 Posts: 1,773 Charles Funk, in A Hog on Ice, says that the phrase seems to have originated in some specific operation which would have required the removal of successive layers until the brass tacks were exposed, but that the references only contain the figurative use and are too recent to afford any clue to the purpose of the first brass tacks. He recounts the suggestion that the saying originated from the brass upholstery tacks place on counters in drapers' shops for use in measuring lengths of cloth, but says that explanation seems fanciful to him because the practice is not old and the tacks of comparatively modern manufacture. OTOH, David Feldman in Who Put the Butter in Butterfly? and Jordan Almond in Dictionary of Word Origins both say that the expression does come from early English drapers' shops. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Re: Brass tacks #28271 05/03/2001 3:40 PM Joined: Nov 2000 Posts: 3,439 New England, USA wow Carpal Tunnel wow Carpal Tunnel Joined: Nov 2000 Posts: 3,439 New England, USA Here's the way I heard it ... from an elderly friend of my Dad's. His Dad was a "drummer" (travelling salesman) in the Heartland in the late 1800s. Yard sticks were in short supply. Not considered a neccesity when travelling west in a covered wagon. Drummers who sold fabric would carry a wooden yard stick. The drummer would put the yard stick on a wooden counter and the ends were marked, then brass tacks were nailed on the two end marks. Brass upholstery tacks were used as they have shiny heads, easy to see and didn't generally rust. When a woman came in to buy fabric, if the store keeper tried to measure the cloth by eye she would tell him to "Get down to brass tacks." In other words, to measure it correctly, not guess, or cheat by "shorting" her. The phrase appears to have come into the language with that meaning. Not being chauvanist, women were generally the fabric purchasers in those days. Copy Link to Clipboard Share Post on Facebook Share Post on Twitter Moderated by  Jackie  Hop To General Topics ------  Information and announcements  Q&A about words  Wordplay and fun  Words and languages in schools  Miscellany  Weekly Themes  Looking for (writers, speakers,... (Old) Weekly themes. (have been... ------  Words from medicine  Beheading words  Meta-words  Words from classical mythology  Animal Safari  Words with unusual etymologies  Eponyms or words derived from p...  Loanwords from German  English as a global language Print Thread Switch to Threaded Mode Show Likes Link Copied to Clipboard View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary View Profile Private Message Follow User Forum Posts Like Summary

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