Cnámha an scéil

Literally “the bones of the story.” Used to mean the outline, the essence, the structural truth underneath a long account. When someone has been talking for ten minutes and you want them to come to the point, you ask for the cnámha an scéil. The Irish proverb runs: téann focal le gaoth ach téann buille le cnámh. A word goes with the wind, but a blow goes to the bone. The language suggests, repeatedly, that words are weather and bones are permanent.