Common phrase for "to name the issue exactly"
I'm looking for an expression/phrase which is common for when in a discussion somebody points to the exact issue / cause of the problem or named an argument which corresponds perfectly to your own opinion. It also expresses that the argument is formulated very straightforward without any reservation and might even make others uncomfortable.
For comparison in German one would say "Den Finger auf die Wunde legen", word-by-word translation would be "You put your finger on the wound".
I only found "put your finger on the weak spot" and "to bring up the painful subject", but I guess there might be way better expressions?
You've hit the nail on the head - this is very widely used in British English, at least.
- Fig. to do exactly the right thing; to do something in the most effective and efficient way. You've spotted the flaw, Sally. You hit the nail on the head. Bob doesn't say much, but every now and then he hits the nail right on the head. (-- from idioms.thefreedictionary.com)
Also from Cambridge Dictionaries Online
to describe exactly what is causing a situation or problem.
Although I should say that I tend to use a variation I picked up somewhere: "put the hammer on the nail."
to put your finger on something
In English we have the same expression but without 'wound'. For that reason it may be more flexible than the German version because you can 'put your finger' on other things as well. Note that the expression usually refers to a problem or a solution to a problem. Note also that the English version of the expression pre-dates the German one by half a century or so.
Examples
There's something wrong here but I can't quite put my finger on it.
I have been trying to solve this problem for weeks but I can't put my finger on the correct solution.
That's it! You've put your finger on it, exactly!
put your finger on sth
to discover the exact reason why a situation is the way it is, especially when something is wrong: There's something odd about him, but I can't quite put my finger on it.
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/put-your-finger-on-sth
Definition of put one's finger on something in English:
Identify something exactly: he cannot put his finger on what has gone wrong
Discussion
The following Google ngram: put * finger on shows that the expression entered the language in the late 1700s. You can read examples by following the links at the bottom of the page.
It might be presumed that the expression came into English from German and lost the word 'wound' on the way. However that is shown to be false by examining the corresponding German Google ngram: Finger auf die Wunde which shows that that version entered the German language in the 1800s.
I'd say 'spot on' or 'bang on':
- exactly correct : completely accurate.
(M-W)