Let’s Get Down to Brass Tacks
Useful English Expression “getting down to brass tacks.” It means to get serious about something, to get to the bottom of the situation. For example, a man may say,” I want to work for you, But how much will you pay me?” He is getting down to brass tacks. Or a woman may ask,” You say you love me. Will you marry me?” She, too, is getting down to brass tacks. How did this expression get started? There are several ideas: 有以下幾種說法 At one time most women made their own clothes, buying the cloth in small stores. The material was kept in large rolls. And the storekeeper cut off as much as a woman wanted. Brass tacks along his work table helped him measure the exact amount. 曾經大部分的女士都在小商店買布自己製作衣服。這些布被纏成一大卷,然後老闆會根據顧客的需求來裁剪想要的布量。就是沿著老闆的工作台就能量出精確的尺寸。 Sometimes a busy storekeeper might try to guess how much material to cut off. But this would not be correct. He could get an exact measure only by laying the material down along the brass tacks. 有時忙碌的老闆可能試著推測大概應減下多少布料,但這並非很準確。他應該藉用一個器材來準確測量一下。 One word expert, however, has another theory. He believes the expression came from seamen who cleaned the bottoms of boats. Strong heavy devices called bolts held the ship’s bottom together. These bolts were made of copper. The seaman had to clean the ship down to the copper bolts. American speech soon changed the words copper bolts into brass tacks. 一位專家有另一種說法,他相信這個說法來自於清理船底的船員。非常堅固沉重的裝置用來銜接船底。這些螺栓是由銅製作的,這不得不由船員們去清理船底下的銅螺栓。美國人很快將copper bolts 的說法改成brass tacks. Another idea is that the expression began when furniture was made by hand. Brass tacks were used around the bottom part of the chair. The brass tacks, showed that the chair was built to be strong. When something went wrong with the chair, someone quickly examined the bottom to discover the trouble. In other words, someone got down to the brass tacks. 另一種說法是當家具還是手工製時,黃銅釘被用在椅子的底部。這些釘子是為了使椅子更堅固,當椅子故障時,有人會快速檢查底部,也就是說有人會got down to 黃銅釘弄清楚問題出在哪裡。 No one is sure where the expression first was used, but everyone is sure what it means today. 所以 get down to brass tacks 有”辦正事”的意思(come to the point; begin to act on specific details),相當於 get down to business, 也可以引申為“言歸正傳”。我們來看一些例句, I’m afraid I can give you only ten minutes’ time. Let’s get down to brass tacks at once. Source: VOA Special English / the key to English 整理: Josie Lai
我恐怕只能給你十分鐘,我們馬上談正經事吧!
After the usual greetings and some remarks about the weather, the men got down to brass tacks.
I do not come here to listen to your silly jokes. Let’s get down to brass tacks and decide on a schedule for our work.
我不是來聽你這些無聊的笑話的,我們言歸正傳來訂一個工作行程。
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