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to get down to brass tacks vs to get down to the brass tacks

Both phrases are correct, but the more common and accepted version is 'to get down to brass tacks'. The phrase means to focus on the essential details or practical aspects of a situation.

Last updated: March 21, 2024 • 620 views

to get down to brass tacks

This phrase is correct and commonly used in English.

This phrase means to focus on the essential details or practical aspects of a situation. It is used when someone wants to get to the heart of the matter or start dealing with the most important issues.
  • Don't you think that it's about time to get down to brass tacks? See also: brass, down, get, tack. McGraw-Hill Dictionary of American Idioms and Phrasal Verbs.
  • In the idiom, brass tacks means (1) the essentials, or (2) the basic facts, so to get down to brass tacks is to focus on the essentials. The phrase's exact derivation ...
  • Apr 15, 2015 ... The feeling has always been that to get down to brass tacks is an American coinage, and indeed it first surfaced in print in Texas. As we will see ...
  • Brass tacks are a type of pin or nail, sometimes called a drawing pin. In colloquial English, the phrase to get down to brass tacks is an idiom that means to focus ...

Alternatives:

  • to get down to the basics
  • to get to the point
  • to focus on the essentials
  • to cut to the chase
  • to get to the nitty-gritty

to get down to the brass tacks

This phrase is correct but less common than 'to get down to brass tacks'.

This phrase has the same meaning as 'to get down to brass tacks', which is to focus on the essential details or practical aspects of a situation. It is a variation of the more widely accepted version.
  • 3) They really know how to get down to the brass tacks without going through all the niceties sometimes. 4) I began to change my language away from the jargon  ...
  • Oct 27, 2007 ... ... in upholstery because they won't rust and stain the fabric; to reupholster a chair would require the craftsman to get down to the brass tacks.
  • In this talk, we will introduce some basic group theory (and the basics of computing in symmetric groups) to get down to the brass tacks of how one would go ...
  • Feb 12, 2016 ... You could go back to Bill Clinton's administration, if you really want to get down to the brass tacks. So the stability and the instability that we ...

Alternatives:

  • to get down to brass tacks
  • to get down to the basics
  • to get to the point
  • to focus on the essentials
  • to cut to the chase

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