"call a spade a spade"

[Benjamin Barrett]

Mea cupla. Going back again, I see this wasn't about the expression
but the word. BB

On Jun 17, 2008, at 7:23 PM, Benjamin Barrett wrote:

> Thanks for that. I had guessed at the meaning of spade, but how do
> you use "call a black person a black person"? Would you say
> something like "I called him a spade a spade"? BB
>
> On Jun 17, 2008, at 7:17 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
>
>>
>> At 6:54 PM -0700 6/17/08, Benjamin Barrett wrote:
>>> What exactly does the racial connotation term mean? From this
>>> thread,
>>> it appears to be the most common meaning in US English, but I'm not
>>> sure what it would mean or how it could be used that way. I'm
>>> familiar
>>> only with the meaning of not using euphemisms or circumlocutions for
>>> something bad. BB
>>
>> from AHD4:
>>
>> 1. Games
>> a. A black, leaf-shaped figure on certain playing cards.
>> b. A playing card with this figure.
>> c. also spades (used with a sing. or pl. verb) The suit of cards
>> represented by this figure.
>>
>> 2. Offensive Slang Used as a disparaging term for a Black person.
>>
>> Interestingly to me, there is apparently no etymological relation
>> between this "spade2" and the digging tool "spade1".  I had always
>> assumed they were related.
>>
>> LH
>>
>>>
>>> On Jun 16, 2008, at 4:39 AM, 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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>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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