[00:09.16]Now, the VOA
[00:14.62]Special English program
[00:17.31]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.
[00:20.39]Our expression today is
[00:23.97]"getting down to brass tacks."
[00:27.62]It means to get serious
[00:30.39]about something,
[00:31.60]to get to the bottom
[00:33.30]of the situation.
[00:35.34]For example, a man may say,
[00:39.03]" I want to work for you.
[00:41.86]But how much will you pay me?"
[00:45.26]He is getting down
[00:47.01]to brass tacks.
[00:48.80]Or a woman may ask,
[00:51.53]"You say you love me.
[00:53.81]Will you marry me?"
[00:56.16]She, too, is getting down
[00:59.40]to brass tacks.
[01:01.44]How did this expression
[01:04.57]get started?
[01:05.58]There are several ideas.
[01:08.71]At one time most women
[01:12.89]made their own clothes,
[01:14.44]buying the cloth
[01:16.49]in small stores.
[01:18.29]The material was kept
[01:20.89]in large rolls.
[01:22.13]And the storekeeper
[01:24.52]cut off as much
[01:26.00]as a woman wanted.
[01:27.36]Brass tacks along
[01:30.30]his work table helped him
[01:32.94]measure the exact amount.
[01:34.88]Sometimes a busy storekeeper
[01:39.27]might try to guess
[01:40.96]how much material to cut off.
[01:43.41]But this would not be correct.
[01:46.84]He could get an exact measure
[01:50.33]only by laying the material down
[01:53.06]along the brass tacks.
[01:56.62]One word expert, however,
[02:00.50]has another theory.
[02:02.81]He believes the expression
[02:05.56]came from seamen who cleaned
[02:07.64]the bottoms of boats.
[02:08.89]Strong heavy devices
[02:12.72]called bolts held the ship's
[02:15.71]bottom together.
[02:17.59]These bolts were made of copper.
[02:20.44]The seaman had to clean
[02:23.32]the ship down to the copper bolts.
[02:26.33]American speech soon
[02:29.30]changed the words
[02:30.46]copper bolts into brass tacks.
[02:33.95]Another idea is that
[02:38.24]the expression began when
[02:40.44]
[02:42.59]Brass tacks were used around
[02:46.02]the bottom part of the chair.
[02:47.92]The brass tacks, showed that
[02:51.75]the chair was built to be strong.
[02:53.75]When something went wrong
[02:56.74]with the chair, someone quickly
[02:59.03]examined the bottom
[03:00.13]to discover the trouble.
[03:01.93]In other words, someone
[03:04.61]got down to the brass tacks.
[03:07.45]No one is sure
[03:10.29]where the expression
[03:11.64]first was used, but everyone
[03:14.38]is sure what it means today.
[03:16.87]It is used by people
[03:20.00]who dislike empty words.
[03:22.43]They seek quick, direct answers.
[03:25.99]They want to get to
[03:28.18]the bottom of a situation.
[03:30.07]There are others, however,
[03:34.20]who have no such desire.
[03:35.44]They feel there is some risk
[03:39.09]in trying to get down
[03:41.23]to brass tacks.
[03:42.92]This happened in the case
[03:46.45]of a critic who made
[03:48.30]the mistake of reading a play
[03:50.24]written by a close friend.
[03:52.68]The critic disliked
[03:55.08]the play a lot.
[03:56.42]He felt his friend should not
[03:59.52]be writing plays.
[04:01.26]But he said nothing.
[04:04.15]This silence troubled the writer.
[04:07.48]He demanded that his friend
[04:10.18]the critic say something
[04:12.02]about the play.
[04:13.86]The writer finally heard
[04:16.60]the critic's opinion.
[04:17.94]And this getting down
[04:20.32]to brass tacks
[04:21.57]ended a long friendship.
[04:24.58](MUSIC)
[04:36.43]This VOA Special English program,
[04:40.98]WORDS AND THEIR STORIES,
[04:43.52]was written by Mike Pitts.
[04:46.71]I'm Warren Scheer.