A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over · Martha Barnette and Grant Barrett. Produced by Stefanie Levine.

Brass Tacks - 29 September 2025

·54 min·4 clips

Elisa's mother woke from sedation saying 'let's get down to brass tacks,' sparking a mystery about its origins.

Grant Barrett and Martha Barnett begin the episode by digging into Reverend W.D. Parrish's 1875 Dictionary of the Sussex Dialect, pointing out how old regional dictionaries offer windows into daily life, food customs, and folk beliefs of their era. Standout finds include the word beaver for an eleven o'clock break snack, which Barrett traces to the Old English plural of beef, and Bishop Barnaby as a local Sussex name for the ladybug, accompanied by a children's rhyme using the insect to predict wedding dates. A caller named Ian phones from Philadelphia with a family expression he has never heard outside his household, launching a broader discussion about how idiosyncratic vocabulary can travel through families while becoming unrecognizable to outsiders. The hosts take additional callers asking about various expressions, phrases, and word puzzles, tracing slang back through historical newspaper archives, early dictionaries, and regional dialect studies. The phrase getting down to brass tacks receives extended discussion, with Barrett and Barnett weighing the hardware store explanation, the notion of tacks hammered into a counter at set intervals for measuring cloth, and the possibility that it simply means getting to the hard facts of a situation. The hosts note that many phrase origin stories have competing explanations and that definitive answers are rarer than pop etymology would suggest. The episode closes with Martha promising to share more finds from the Sussex dialect dictionary in future shows and encouraging listeners to call or text with their own language questions.

As heard by us

A playful tour of dialect relics, borrowings, and the everyday mischief of words.

Old dictionaries give the episode its most arresting thread. A 1875 Sussex dialect dictionary by Reverend W.D. Parrish turns up beaver for an 11 o'clock luncheon, and that small surprise opens onto daily life: food and drink, beliefs, superstitions, opinions, and gossip.

Read the full review in PlayNext →

Why you'd press play

When you want dictionary-diving and language play that feels friendly and conversational.

Read the full recommendation in PlayNext →

Listen to the show on

Apple Podcasts Spotify

Play clips from this episode More from A Way with Words - language, linguistics, and callers from all over