To be right at the meat of things

[adrurko]

Hello everyone!

I need help with this: what's the meaning of the expression:

Biology's even better.
It's...right at the meat of things.
(Nick reenters)
You're right at the meat of things, baby.

Would you tell me what you understand from this? How can we say the same in spanish?

Thank you very much!

 

[gengo]

It is a pun, because meat (carne) is obviously a part of biology, but "to be at the meat of something" is also a set phrase.

the meat of [sth] n	figurative (essence, crux, gist)	meollo de nm + prep
	The meat of the issue was his refusal to pay for anything.
	El meollo del problema era su negativa a pagar por cualquier cosa.

However, I don't really understand Nick's comment, why he repeats the phrase.

 

[adrurko]

It is a pun, because meat (carne) is obviously a part of biology, but "to be at the meat of something" is also a set phrase.

the meat of [sth] n	figurative (essence, crux, gist)	meollo de nm + prep
	The meat of the issue was his refusal to pay for anything.
	El meollo del problema era su negativa a pagar por cualquier cosa.

However, I don't really understand Nick's comment, why he repeats the phrase.

Nick doesn't repeat the prhase, is Martha who says it again, when she sees Nick's reentering.

 

[gengo]

Nick doesn't repeat the prhase, is Martha who says it again, when she sees Nick's reentering.

Ah, OK, then it makes sense. She's just repeating what she said, meaning that Nick is at the meat of things because he is a biologist. So she is saying that Nick is at the very center of whatever it is that they are talking about (the "things").

 

[adrurko]

Ah, OK, then it makes sense. She's just repeating what she said, meaning that Nick is at the meat of things because he is a biologist. So she is saying that Nick is at the very center of whatever it is that they are talking about (the "things").

You're the best! Thank you very much, gengo!

 

[jasminasul]

Pero ¿cuál es el contexto?
¿No puede ser que le esté diciendo que está muy cachas o que con "meat" se refiera al órgano sexual?

 

[gengo]

Pero ¿cuál es el contexto?
¿No puede ser que le esté diciendo que está muy cachas o que con "meat" se refiera al órgano sexual?

Sí, puede ser. Nos falta el contexto, como bien dices.

 

[boroman]

Furthermore, the gun is an obvious sexual symbol which delights Martha's sensuous self. In the same scene, she refers to George as "You . . . prick." At the end of the scene, she delights in using double meanings when she tells Nick that she bets he won't need a fake gun, or any other "props."

When Martha finds out that Nick is not in math but in biology, she continues her vulgar suggestiveness by maintaining that biology is closer "to the meat of things."

Scene ix opens with Martha telling Nick as he re-enters: "You're right at the meat of things, baby" a phrase she repeats until George tells her that she is obsessed with it. There is then the discussion, begun earlier in the third scene, concerning the sciences and the humanities. During this scene, as biological matters are discussed and as Martha becomes more and more attracted to young Nick, she increasingly degrades George.