[Ads-l] "to come right down to the brass" 1858

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Here are two more examples of "down to the brass" without tacks.

Date: Tuesday, May 29, 1860
Newspaper: Rock River Democrat
Location: Rockford, Illinois
Database: GenealogyBank

[Begin excerpt]
"DOWN TO THE BRASS."--Come right "down to the brass," and this
Squatter Sovereignty is a curious and delicate thing--so delicate that
when brought to the brass it is dashed to atoms like the delicate
porcelain.
[End excerpt]


Year: 1867
Title: You and Me: Or, Sketches for Both of Us ...
Author: Nans Patrick Le Connor (Jacob L. Bowman)
Publisher: G. Knapp & Company, Printers and Binders, St Louis, Mo.
Database: Google Books Full View

https://books.google.com/books?id=e8YvAQAAMAAJ&q=%22the+brass%22#v=snippet&

[Begin excerpt]
So to speak. To come right down to the brass of the matter, though,
and talk good old sound, substantial machine sense, (however
disagreeable it may be to me to go back on poetry,) I've struck a good
thing and made a pile (no allusion to our M.C.)
[End excerpt]

Garson

On Thu, Apr 16, 2015 at 10:18 AM, Stephen Goranson <goranson at duke.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Stephen Goranson <goranson at DUKE.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: "to come right down to the brass" 1858
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society ... on behalf of Stephen Goranson <goranson@=
> DUKE.EDU>
> Sent: Thursday, April 16, 2015 9:29 AM
> Another early, US, political "down to the brass":
> 03-05-1861 Plain Dealer , Cleveland OH p. 3, col. 1 [Am. Hist. Newsp.] "Jo =
> Bows on the Presidents [and the qualities of their parents]":
> "....If Jo Bows came down to the brass he would say, they, were more so."=20
>
> SG
>
>
>
> To: ...
> Subject: [ADS-L] "to come right down to the brass" 1858
>
> "Mr H H GRAY said, we have talked all around the question, and he thought i=
> t was time to come right down to the brass."
>
> Transcript [accurate?] of a session on Wed. am, Jan. 27, 1858.
>
> Headline: [No Headline]; Article Type: Legislative Acts/Legal Proceedings
> Paper: Weekly Wisconsin Patriot, published as The Weekly Wisconsin Patriot;=
>  Date: 01-30-1858; Volume: 4; Issue: 35; Page: [2] col. 4  Location: Madiso=
> n, Wisconsin
>
>
> Stephen Goranson
>
> http://people.duke.edu/~goranson/
>
>
> PS The earliest reported use of "down to brass tacks" is Jan. 1863.
>
> PPS [Other early uses are legislative, too.]
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org