call a spade a spade

English

Wikipedia

Etymology

A mistaken translation of Ancient Greek τὰ σῦκα σῦκα, τὴν σκάφην δὲ σκάφην ὀνομάσων ('calling figs figs, and a trough a trough'). The word σκάφη (skaphe, “trough”) was mistranslated by the medieval scholar Desiderius Erasmus as σκαφείον (skapheion, “digging tool”).

Verb

to call a spade a spade

1. (idiomatic) to speak the truth; to say things as they really are

   (Can we date this quote?) Maybe God just calls a spade a spade, when the president talks to God. - Bright Eyes

Usage notes

• Sometimes mistakenly taken as derogatory from the sense of spade that refers to a black person. However those two expressions are unrelated; this refers to the digging instrument, and the other to the card suit.

Translations

to speak the truth

Arabic: please add this translation if you can Chinese: Mandarin: 是啥說啥 (cmn), 是啥说啥 (cmn) (shì shá shuō shá), 直言不諱 (cmn), 直言不讳 (cmn) (zhíyánbùhuì) Czech: nazvat věc pravým jménem (cs) Dutch: zeggen zoals het is (nl) Finnish: kutsua asioita niiden oikeilla nimillä French: appeler un chat un chat (fr) (lit.: to call a cat a cat) German: das Kind beim Namen nennen (de) Greek: λέω τα σύκα σύκα και τη σκάφη σκάφη (el) (leo ta syka syka kai ti skafi skafi)

Hungarian: nevén nevezi a gyereket (hu) Italian: Dire pane al pane e vino al vino Japanese: ありのまま言う (ja) (ari-no mama iu) Norwegian: kalle en spade for en spade (no) Portuguese: pão, pão, queijo, queijo (pt) Russian: называть вещи своими именами (ru) (nazyvát' véšči svoími imenámi) (lit: call things by their own names) Spanish: llamar al pan, pan y al vino, vino Swedish: please add this translation if you can

See also

• call it like one sees it
• tell it like it is
• beat around the bush, beat about the bush
• pull one's punches

References

• "Call a spade a spade" in Michael Quinion, Ballyhoo, Buckaroo, and Spuds, 2004.