gets down to brass tacks
Addresses core issues
Gets down to brass tacks means to focus on the essential facts or practical details after preliminary discussion.
Someone who gets down to brass tacks stops circling around a topic and addresses what actually matters: After an hour of small talk, we finally got down to brass tacks about the merger.
The phrase implies cutting through pleasantries or abstractions to reach substance.
- pragmatismPractical problem-solving philosophy
- no nonsenseSerious and efficient
- clarityState of being understandable
- substancePhysical material with mass
- hands-onInvolving direct physical engagement
down to earth · exactitude · resolution · specificity · nuts and bolts · conciseness · directness · straight talk · bottom line · realism · feasibility · nitty-gritty · cut to the chase · bare bones · efficiency · groundedness · colloquialism · execution
gets down to brass tacksbeats around the bush
Avoids saying something directly
hedges · pussyfoots · equivocates · prevaricates · obfuscates
gets down to brass tackstheorizes
Forms explanatory conjectures
philosophizes · speculates · glosses over · hand-waves · misses the forest for the trees
gets down to brass tackswastes time
Spends moments unproductively
splits hairs · misses the forest for the trees · fiddles while Rome burns · nitpicks · digresses
downer, downs, downed, brass, brasses, brassy, tacks, tacked