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