"Brass tacks" (1876) and etymological evidence

[Jonathan Lighter]

"Brass tacks" < "facts" has always struck me as a SWAG, since "brass tacks" never seems to denote "facts."

                * Sluggo ! I want an Extra !  Get the brass tacks on the Canary murder case !

I don't think so...

JL

"Cohen, Gerald Leonard" <gcohen at UMR.EDU> wrote:
---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: "Cohen, Gerald Leonard"
Subject: Re: "Brass tacks" (1876) and etymological evidence
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Hmmm. Very interesting. "Brass tacks" is supposed to be rhyming slang for "facts"; hence "get down to brass tacks." But then why do the dictionaries say that this expression started in the U.S.? Why not in the speech of Cockneys?

Also, Doug provides good antedatings. (HDAS has 1895 for the earliest attestation.)

Gerald Cohen

> ----------
> From: American Dialect Society on behalf of Douglas G. Wilson
> Subject: "Brass tacks" (1876) and etymological evidence
>
> Here are the earliest instances of "brass tacks" ('non-literal') which I've
> found:
>
> ----------
>
> _Atlanta Constitution_, 5 April 1876: p. 1:
>
> <>
>
> ----------
>
> _Atlanta Constitution_, 13 June 1876: p. 2:
>
> <>
>
> ----------
>
> Here is an early example of "brass tacks" used in a simile. If this simile was appropriate, presumably a corresponding metaphor was also possible, with "brass tacks" standing for "exactitudes" or so. This would lend support to the theory that the original reference was to tacks used in measuring yard goods.
>
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>
> _Atchison Globe_ (Atchison KS), 3 May 1883 [at N'archive: date not on page but contents compatible with date]: p. 3(?):
>
> <> too.>>
>
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>
> As is often the case, this item (or even many other similar ones, should they be found) may not be fully conclusive, since 'reanalyses' and 'folk
> etymologies' spring up like mushrooms sometimes. Still ....
>
> -- Doug Wilson
>
>
>


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