5 April 2023
The phrase get down to brass tacks means to address the heart of an issue, to deal with the basic facts of a matter. The phrase is an Americanism, dating to the mid nineteenth century, but the underlying metaphor is unknown. There are many speculative explanations as to what the brass tacks signify, but there is no evidence to support any of them. There is, however, an earlier, shorter, version of the phrase that reads simply, down to the brass.
This earlier version is first recorded in a Louisiana newspaper editorial from 30 June 1853:
It often happens that meetings of this kind are holden [sic], at which the stereotype phrase “I move, Mr. Chairman, that Mr. — be appointed,” falls thick and fast on the President’s ears until the assessment roll is nearly exhausted, and enough delegates are appointed to crowd a Mississippi steam “down to the brass,” after which the meeting breaks up under the flattering delusion that the Parish has secured an efficient representation in the forthcoming Convention. On half of those appointed never hear of it, and the other half trust to the probabilities of some going from among so many, and the result is that no one attends.
We see it again in the Wisconsin State Journal of 21 April 1854:
There is one thing we wish the Argus to do. Come right down to the brass—to use an ordinary phrase—and say whether it considers the late legislature particularly eminent for economy and public spirit. Does it believe that it did its duty faithfully to the State?
And in another Madison, Wisconsin paper on 13 September 1856:
But, now, after all, Mr. Journal—Suppose we come right down to the brass, and admit, just to please you, all you claim, what then? Would that show that your principles were more just and correct, or that ours were less so? Does that show that your principles are too good to be discussed?
The brass tacks version appears by 21 January 1863. Here is the earliest known example, a Houston, Texas newspaper editorial titled “Brass Tacks” about inflation affecting Confederate currency:
No one we apprehend will accuse Washington of a want of patriotism, unless he have some other object than the truth in view. For doing what he did, we, with others, accuse people of selfishness, but we should in justice add that when you come down to “brass tacks”—if we may be allowed the expression—everybody is governed by selfishness, and if the merchant, who refuses to take what is due him at 50 cents on the dollar, is selfish, the debtor who insists on doing so is just as selfish.
Perhaps the most common speculative explanation is that it is Cockney rhyming slang for “facts.” The phrase is used in Cockney rhyming slang, but that isn’t its origin. For one thing, the phrase is American in origin. For another, uses that rhyme brass tacks with facts don’t start appearing until the twentieth century. Nor does this explanation account for the earlier use of the shorter down to the brass.
Other speculative origins are plausible but lack evidence connecting them to the phrase. One is that brass tacks were placed on store counters marking out a yard so that purchases of cloth and other products could be measured. Another is that the brass refers to upholstery foundations and fasteners. Yet another is that the brass refers to coffin nails, representing the final undeniable truth.
In the end, we just don’t know how the phrase came about, and we probably never will.
Sources:
“Brass Tacks.” Tri-Weekly Telegraph (Houston, Texas), 21 January 1863, 2/1. Readex: America’s Historical Newspapers.
Green’s Dictionary of Slang, 2023, s.v. brass tacks, n.
“Legislative Extravagance.” Wisconsin State Journal (Madison, Wisconsin), 21 April 1854, 2/1. NewspaperArchive.com.
Oxford English Dictionary, second edition, 1989, s.v. brass, n.
“’Pump’ Carpenter.” Weekly Wisconsin Patriot (Madison), 13 September 1856, 1/3. Readex: America’s Historical Newspapers.
“Something for the Whigs.” Planter’s Banner (Franklin, Louisiana), 30 June 1853, 2/3. NewspaperArchive.com.
Tréguer, Pascal. “‘Come (Right) Down to the Brass’ | ‘Come Down to Brass Tacks.’” Wordhistories.net, 5 April 2019.
———. “A Hypothesis as to the Origin of ‘to Get Down to Brass Tacks.’” Wordhistories.net, 6 April 2019.
Image credit: John Dalton, 2006. Wikimedia Commons. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.