Т-183

СТАВИТЬ/ПОСТАВИТЬ ТОЧКИ (ВСЕ ТОЧКИ, ТОЧКУ) НАД (НА obs) И («И», "Г) VP subj: human to clarify some matter fully and in all its details, leaving no ambiguities

X поставил точки над и — X dotted the ids and crossed the tds.

Верно, и чирьи замучили (Михаила), и обещание с его (Першина) стороны насчет замены было, а все-таки факт остаётся фактом: самовольно, без разрешения ушёл со сплава, а ежели все ставить точки над «и», то и так сказать можно: дезертировал (Абрамов 1). It was true his (Mikhail's) boils had been plaguing him and that Pershin had made a promise to get him replaced, but facts were facts: absent without leave. He had left the timber floating without permission. To dot the i's and cross the t's, you could indeed say that he had deserted (1a).

(?) Translation of the French mettre les points sur les i. The letter "i" existed in the Russian alphabet prior to the orthography reform of 1917.