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Now, the VOA
Special English program
WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.
Our expression today is
"getting down to brass tacks."
It means to get serious
about something,
to get to the bottom
of the situation.
For example, a man may say,
" I want to work for you.
But how much will you pay me?"
He is getting down
to brass tacks.
Or a woman may ask,
"You say you love me.
Will you marry me?"
She, too, is getting down
to brass tacks.
How did this expression
get started?
There are several ideas.
At one time most women
made their own clothes,
buying the cloth
in small stores.
The material was kept
in large rolls.
And the storekeeper
cut off as much
as a woman wanted.
Brass tacks along
his work table helped him
measure the exact amount.
Sometimes a busy storekeeper
might try to guess
how much material to cut off.
But this would not be correct.
He could get an exact measure
only by laying the material down
along the brass tacks.
One word expert, however,
has another theory.
He believes the expression
came from seamen who cleaned
the bottoms of boats.
Strong heavy devices
called bolts held the ship's
bottom together.
These bolts were made of copper.
The seaman had to clean
the ship down to the copper bolts.
American speech soon
changed the words
copper bolts into brass tacks.
Another idea is that
the expression began when
Brass tacks were used around
the bottom part of the chair.
The brass tacks, showed that
the chair was built to be strong.
When something went wrong
with the chair, someone quickly
examined the bottom
to discover the trouble.
In other words, someone
got down to the brass tacks.
No one is sure
where the expression
first was used, but everyone
is sure what it means today.
It is used by people
who dislike empty words.
They seek quick, direct answers.
They want to get to
the bottom of a situation.
There are others, however,
who have no such desire.
They feel there is some risk
in trying to get down
to brass tacks.
This happened in the case
of a critic who made
the mistake of reading a play
written by a close friend.
The critic disliked
the play a lot.
He felt his friend should not
be writing plays.
But he said nothing.
This silence troubled the writer.
He demanded that his friend
the critic say something
about the play.
The writer finally heard
the critic's opinion.
And this getting down
to brass tacks
ended a long friendship.
(MUSIC)
This VOA Special English program,
WORDS AND THEIR STORIES,
was written by Mike Pitts.
I'm Warren Scheer.
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