Also, flip-flops are shoes. The kind of shoes I call thongs. Not to be confused with the type of lingerie, which I suppose segues into:
money shot - eww. Just eww. Not how I want the core part of anything I'm interested in portrayed. Ick. How about "gist" - it's even shorter, if it's laboriously tying out "the most important part of what I am talking about" you are trying to avoid by this odious shorthand. Or "core." Or "good bits." Or even, for brevity and nostalgia both, "key." Otherwise I'm tempted to hand you a box of tissues and shoo you off home.