Idiom
Call a spade a spade
To call a spade a spade is to speak plainly and honestly about something, even if the truth is unpleasant.
How people use it
People often say it about themselves to explain blunt words: I'll call a spade a spade: this plan is too expensive. It can be praise for honesty or a polite warning that something harsh is coming. The tone is informal to neutral. A spade here is a digging tool, the kind used in gardens. Because spade was later used as a racial slur in the US, some people avoid the idiom to prevent misunderstanding, even though the two have no connection; speak plainly or be blunt are safe alternatives.
Examples
- My grandmother always calls a spade a spade, so ask her only if you want an honest answer.
- Let's call a spade a spade: we lost because we didn't practice.
- Ben's review called a spade a spade and said the restaurant's soup was far too salty.
Where it comes from
The saying goes back to ancient Greek, where Plutarch recorded a version about calling a fig a fig and a trough a trough. When the scholar Erasmus put it into Latin in the 1500s, he used a word for a digging tool, and Nicholas Udall's English translation of 1542 gave us call a spade a spade. It has nothing to do with the much later slur.
Check yourself
1. If your boss calls a spade a spade, how does she talk?
Answer: Plainly and honestly. To call a spade a spade means to say things directly, without softening them.
2. Where does the idiom come from?
Answer: An ancient Greek saying, later translated into English. Plutarch recorded the Greek saying, and a 1542 English translation gave us the spade version.
Similar idioms
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