"call a spade a spade"

[Joel S. Berson]

I wouldn't call a spade a shovel, since a spade (n.1) digs or cuts
while a shovel moves loose material.  But I see the OED calls a shovel a spade.

Joel

At 6/16/2008 08:37 AM, Paul wrote:
>As a 73 year old Midwesterner, I haven't heard "spade" as a racial term
>for at least 30 years.  Growing up in Chicago it was an occasional slur,
>but hadn't even thought of the racial definition for many, many years.
>Sounds almost quaint, somewhat like the slang in a Raymond Chandler novel.
>
>Charles Doyle wrote:
>>For some speakers of American English (by no means all of them),
>>the word "spade" has lost all applications except for use as a
>>derogatory racial designation.
>>
>>On the reanalysis of the proverbial phrase "call a spade a spade,"
>>one might consult Wolfgang Mieder's monograph _Call a Spade a
>>Spade: From Classical Phrase to Racial Slur_ (NY: Peter Lang, 2002).
>>
>>--Charlie
>>_____________________________________________________________
>>
>>---- Original message ----
>>
>>>Date: Mon, 16 Jun 2008 00:02:08 -0400
>>>From: Doug Harris <cats22 at FRONTIERNET.NET>
>>
>>The Same Dowd piece, datelined Paris, also included this:
>>
>>
>>>'Angela Merkel dodged when asked at a press conference whether she
>>>would miss W., but said she liked being able to "call a spade a
>>>spade with him."'
>>
>>
>>>Twas that a fox paw, an indication of a lack of familiarity with
>>>American vernacular, or merely a hopefully-NOT noteworthy phrase?
>>
>>
>>>dh
>>
>>------------------------------------------------------------
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>>
>>
>
>--
>
>Mistakes were made, but not by me!
>                        Slogan of the Bush administration
>
>.
>
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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org