Down to "brass tacks" ... That makes so much more sense.

SixPapaCharlie

SixPapaCharlie

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I always thought the expression was "brass tax".

Never understood what that meant. Figured it was maybe some leftover expression from back in the day when there was a tax levied on mediocre metals or something.

I saw it written down for the first time and was like "Everything I assumed about the world has just changed in this single moment"

Brass tacks makes so much more sense...
 
Brass is a mediocre metal?

Wow, just wow.
 
I could care less if your deep-seeded belief in brass tax was misplaced. I'll wait with baited breath for a reply. It's a shoe-in that you'll reply with an incorrectly used phrase.
 
FAR 91. oops. AIM 4-3-....no not there. AH HA. Wikepedia. Earliest attestation in 1863 US, specifically Texas.[1] A theory is that it comes from the brass tacks in the counter of a hardware store or draper’s shop used to measure cloth in precise units (rather than holding one end to the nose and stretching out the arm to approximately one yard). Another possibility is the 19th century American practice of using brass tacks to spell out the initials of the deceased on the top of their coffin.

Something else Texas gets credit for.
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
On door knobs it is. That's my only exposure to brass though.
Maybe in its natural form it is quite exquisite.
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Hose bibs are usually/always brass. The brass section of the band is always brass except for those funny tuba things that aren't. Avoid too much zinc in brass and it lasts a long, long, long, long, long time.
 
brass knuckles aren't usually made of brass.
 
gkainz said:
Four all intensive porpoises, brass tax is so yesterday ...
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When I was a kid I thought singer Mel McDaniel was saying "heaven help us, baby's got a blue ding-dong."


Just figured "Baby" was a transsexual smurf or something.
 
scorpio said:
I could care less if your deep-seeded belief in brass tax was misplaced. I'll wait with baited breath for a reply. It's a shoe-in that you'll reply with an incorrectly used phrase.
Click to expand...

Hopefully his mis-used phrase will not be "I could care less" Which as covered in previous threads mean you DO care, not that you do not.
 
Cymbals are made of brass. So are some symbols.
I used to have a set of drums. I also had to buy cymbals.
Paid payments until the drums were paid off, then paid on the cymbals until the last small payment.
I figured at that point I was down to the brass tax.

ba dump pssss!
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
On door knobs it is. That's my only exposure to brass though.
Maybe in its natural form it is quite exquisite.
Click to expand...

I don't know man, its not even a pure metal, it sounds like a disgraceful alloy to me. I mean, look it even looks like a dinosaur.

images
 
Clark1961 said:
Brass is a mediocre medal. Zee what I dun there?
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Well, sun of a gun. :)

Dunno how mediocre it is...but one of my souvenirs from a 40-year space engineering career is a brass shaft used as an antenna mount. Needed something that would bend to some extent if it had to, but wouldn't break off. The one I have was used as a test item, and is appropriately bent.

Ron Wanttaja
 
SixPapaCharlie said:
I always thought the expression was "brass tax".

Never understood what that meant. Figured it was maybe some leftover expression from back in the day when there was a tax levied on mediocre metals or something.

I saw it written down for the first time and was like "Everything I assumed about the world has just changed in this single moment"

Brass tacks makes so much more sense...
Click to expand...
Boot makers use brass tacks to secure the leather to the heels. When they wear out, they say "you are down to the Brass Tacks."
 
Scott@KTYR said:
Boot makers use brass tacks to secure the leather to the heels. When they wear out, they say "you are down to the Brass Tacks."
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It's like when they hold auctions of Lord of the Rings collectables, and have to hold off until the walking trees get there.

We have to stay there until the Bidder Ent.....

Ron Wanttaja
 
Donkey hotey thinks this thread is a damp squid.
 
Scott@KTYR said:
Boot makers use brass tacks to secure the leather to the heels. When they wear out, they say "you are down to the Brass Tacks."
Click to expand...
I've always taken it to mean "let's get down to the details". I've heard my Grandpa say it several times especially when buying a horse or a piece of farm/ranch equipment.
 
I'll never forget my first can of Brasso for polishing my brass.

Cheers
 
I polished brass doors at Steak And Ale when I was 15. My first job as a bus boy and I could work extra hours if I brasso'd the doors.
 
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