brass tacks
The real issues
Brass tacks are the essential facts or practical details of a matter.
The phrase appears almost exclusively in get down to brass tacks, meaning to focus on what's fundamental, setting aside preliminaries or abstractions: Let's get down to brass tacks—how much will this cost?
- bottom lineEssential point or conclusion
- bottom dollarOne's final remaining money
- concretenessQuality of being solid
- cut to the chaseSkip to essentials
- nitty-grittyEssential practical details
down to business · drill down · fix · crux · meat and potatoes · specificity · pinpointing · bare bones · hard facts · real deal · nuts and bolts · heart of the matter · exactitude · copper alloy · thumbtack · fasteners · fittings · get to the point
- fundamentalsbasics, fundamentals, essentials, foundation, ABCs
- Business Talkmeeting, agenda, deadline, goals, priorities
- candorfrankness, directness, bluntness, candor, straightforwardness
- Get to the Pointcut to the chase, bottom line, in a nutshell, spit it out, long story short
- getting organizedget organized, in order, put in place, straighten up, tidy up
- shoe materialsleather, suede, rubber, canvas, nubuck
brass tackssmall talk
Polite trivial conversation
fluff · trivialities · generalities · abstractions · window dressing
brass tacksidle chatter
Trivial, aimless conversation
banter · chitchat · shooting the breeze · pleasantries · chit-chat
tack, brass, tackle, brassy, tactile, tacks, tacked, tacking, tactility