tin tacks, n. — Green’s Dictionary of Slang

tin tacks n.

[rhy. sl.; phr. allegedly coined by the critic and playwright George Bernard Shaw (1856–1950)]

facts; usu. in phr. get down to tin tacks ; also the basics, the smallest components.

1905		Sporting Times 1 Apr. 3/3: One car’s on fire, and the other smashed to tin-tacks.
1960		J. Franklyn Dict. of Rhy. Sl.

get down to tin tacks (v.) (also come down to tin tacks)

to approach and deal with the central issues of a situation.

1900		Nat. Police Gaz. (NY) 13 Oct. 7/3: [Y]ou cannot beat [...] British pluck when it comes down to tin tacks.
1920		Liverpool Echo 17 Aug. 4/5: ‘To get down to tin tacks then, my pal Bert and I were trying to cross from Victoria Street’.
1930		Eve. Teleg. 7 Aug. 7/7: When they get down to tin tacks, a farthing on the rates is a holy horror!
1934		C. Stead Seven Poor Men of Sydney 105: Come down to tin-tacks; that’s the right thing.
1939		K. Tennant Foveaux 87: Well, let’s get down to tin tacks. You naturally want to know how this will affect you, Billy.
1941		K. Tennant Battlers 90: ‘Well, let’s get down to tin-tacks.’ The Dogger knew that if he once let Uncle start on Shakespeare or Carlyle, he would quote great slabs of the stuff all night.
1943		Liverpool Echo 9 July 3/1: ‘Now let us get down to tin tacks’.