Don't beat around the bush
To do something without delicacy or refinement
When the word “lace” appeared in the 14th century, it first referred to a small tooth.
It was upon arriving from Italy in the sixteenth century that this same word began to designate what is now known as a threadwork piece, highly openwork, adorned with various opaque designs, and which was part of what was called trimmings.
Before the introduction of mechanical weaving techniques in the second half of the 19th century, lace was made by hand, using a bobbin, a needle, a crochet, or a shuttle; and this very fine work required great meticulousness.
That is why, figuratively, the word “lace” symbolizes delicacy.
We therefore understand that someone who does not do lacework is a person who acts without any refinement, without concern for quality, brutally (the “in” being understood as “in the trade of lacework,” as one says that someone works in butchery or in hairdressing).
Colin Higgins doesn't deal in subtlety. Transposed to the screen, this major Broadway hit has lost none of its heaviness.
Télérama - Article from January 11, 1984
Far from being a Francophile, the conservative American daily New York Post, owned by the Murdoch group, does not mince words: “French cultural vultures want to tax internet companies,” the article is headlined, arguing that “tax-obsessed authorities in Paris are targeting Google as a source of funding for the declining French culture.”
Le Figaro – Article from January 8, 2010
Marylena
