Thread: Traducción de Nitty Gritty

I think another option would be using "hilar fino". Depending on the context, it could be something as straightforward as "Hilando fino,..." or "Vamos a hilar fino" (for "let's go to the nitty gritty"). It has the meaning of tearing things apart, performing a more detailed analysis and not only focusing on some special point ("Ir al grano" is more "Let's cut to the chase")

Hi Vicente,
I understand they have slight differences in meaning and I actually don't use them in the same circunstances.

Nitty comes from nit that is the eggs of lice; and gritty from grit, that is some sort of sand. That being said, for me it implies going down to the micro components by performing a micro analysis. In fact, this might imply investing a lot of time in this analysis. I agree that this idiom might match better with the other "let's go down to the basics".

Regarding "let's cut to the chase", for me it implies somewhat the opposite (that is, let's do not waste time and go straight to the point -or the main point-). Similar to "let's get to the bottom line". This last one is more like an accounting auditing saying derived from the practice of not wasting time going over each and every single entry of a P&L but going straight to the net profit (the "bottom line" in their jargon).

Actually "let's cut to the chase" derives from a practice in movies from the 1920's (like Charlie Chaplin's movies from the silent film era). Directors would edit their movies and go straight to the hilarious shoot of the main role being pursued in a funny fast-motion way.