Meaning
To stop dealing in generalities and turn to the basic facts, practical details, or real substance of a matter, especially in a negotiation or business discussion. Frequently used as a suggestion or command to focus on what actually matters. American in origin but now standard in British English as well. Informal but acceptable in business and journalism; slightly folksy in tone. Regional use: American English origin; now General English.
Origin
American. The Phrase Finder's earliest known print citation is the Texas Tri-Weekly Telegraph of January 1863 ('When you come down to 'brass tacks' - if we may be allowed the expression...'), and all early citations it traces are Texan. Etymonline, by contrast, dates the figurative use of 'brass tacks' for the essentials of a matter to 1897, noting it became popular from about 1910. The derivation is genuinely unsettled: a 1911 advertisement already called it 'a characteristic American slang phrase, full of suggestion but of obscure origin'. The main theories are (1) haberdashery - cloth measured between brass tacks driven into shop counters at fixed intervals, a practice described in Ernest Ingersoll's 1880 account of Denver dry-goods stores; (2) furniture upholstery - brass-headed tacks as the plain hardware beneath the decorative surface; and (3) rejected explanations, including Cockney rhyming slang ('tacks' for 'facts', dismissed because the phrase is American) and a supposed 'brass tax'. Phrase Finder judges the haberdashery theory the strongest candidate, but no theory is proven, and the reader should treat the derivation as disputed.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- come down to brass tacks
- down to brass tacks
- get down to cases
- getting down to brass tacks
Usage Examples
- We have kicked ideas around all afternoon; it is time to get down to brass tacks and agree on a price.
- Once the lawyers came down to brass tacks, the settlement talks moved surprisingly quickly.
- Let's get down to brass tacks: can this bridge actually be built within the council's budget?