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

[ADSGarson O'Toole]

Here is an 1858 citation with the phrase:

Let us come down to tha "brass" of the thing at once.

Note: The spelling "tha" is in the original text. The quotation marks
are also in the original image.

Date: Friday, November 12, 1858
Newspaper: The Olney Times
Newspaper location: Olney, Illinois
Database: Newspapers.com
Article: A Word fo Messrs. Greeley & Company
Quote Page 2, Column 5
Caution: Please double-check for typos and other errors

[Begin excerpt]
We have no desire to make fresh
sores, or irritate old ones, but we
owe it to the Republican majority--
of Illino's, to exchange a word with
certain people in the Eastern States
who contributed to our practical de-
feat in the late contest. Let us come
down to tha "brass" of the thing at
once. You, Messrs. Greeley & Co.,
argued to us in this way:
. . .
[End excerpt]

On Thu, Apr 16, 2015 at 10:31 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
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> A third early US use:
> To come right down to the brass of the matter, though, and talk good old so=
> und, substantial, machine sense, (however disagreeable it may be to me to g=
> o back on poetry,) I=92ve struck a good thing and made a. pile (no allusion=
>  to our M. C.)
>
> You and me, or, Sketches for both of us / By Hans Patrick Le Connor, (Jacob=
>  L. Bowman). page 47
> Main Author:    Bowman, Jacob L.
> Language(s):    English
> Published:      St. Louis, Mo. : G. Knapp, 1867
> http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=3Dumn.319510020961106;view=3D1up;seq=
> =3D55
>
> SG
>
>
> ________________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society ... on behalf of Stephen Goranson ...
> 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."
>
> 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

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