Get the lowdown

"Get the low down" on something means finding or determining the truth or facts about a subject. What I am interested in is how it got started and where.

It could that this is just a variant of the age old saying 'to get to the bottom' of something; ie to get to the roots of the matter.It,too has been around for a while.

"Lowdown" is one word, slang for the trurh. There's also the hyphenated "low-down," an adjective meaning despicable and contempible. Think roots, then snakes.