"call a spade a spade"

[Dave Wilton]

To my knowledge, no one has ever used "call a spade a spade" with the intent
of it being racial slur. But that has not stopped some people from
interpreting it that way--not unlike the objections to "niggard" or
"picnic."

The interpretation is not rational. It makes no sense, either linguistically
or logically. But there it is.


-----Original Message-----
From: American Dialect Society [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of
Benjamin Barrett
Sent: Tuesday, June 17, 2008 7:23 PM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
Subject: Re: "call a spade a spade"

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
>>>
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org