Reader's question: But the ICANN chief declined to reveal the nuts and bolts of the applicants. Could you explain “nuts and bolts”?

My comments:

In other words, the ICANN did not give any details about who those applicants were.

“Nuts and bolts” is an American idiom. “Nuts” and “bolts” allude to the bits and pieces of a machine, i.e. the basic components of something.

This example, from the American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms:

They have lofty goals but don't specify the nuts and bolts of how to achieve them.

Related stories:

In that vein

The devil you know…

Right out of the gate

Leap-frog

Up the ante

loose ends

Nose-bleed section

Off the rails

Keeping up with the Jones's

Benefits package

Closed-door talk

March Madness

On-again,off-again

Go to Zhang Xin's column

本文仅代表作者本人观点，与本网立场无关。欢迎大家讨论学术问题，尊重他人，禁止人身攻击和发布一切违反国家现行法律法规的内容。

Zhang Xin has been with China Daily since 1988, when he graduated from Beijing Foreign Studies University. Write him at: zhangxin@chinadaily.com.cn, or raise a question for potential use in a future column.