The idiom “call a spade a spade” essentially means speaking bluntly and truthfully, without using euphemisms or sugar-coating.
The idiom has equivalents in various languages, each with its own unique cultural and linguistic twist:
French: In French, the equivalent phrase is “appeler un chat un chat.” This literally translates to “calling a cat a cat.” It carries the same meaning as the English idiom, urging people to be direct and straightforward in their communication.
German: The German equivalent is “Das Kind beim Namen nennen,” which translates to “calling the child by its name.” Similarly, it emphasizes the importance of being honest and forthright in speech.
Spanish: In Spanish, the idiom “llamar al pan, pan; y al vino, vino” is used. This translates to “calling bread, bread; and wine, wine.” It encourages clarity and avoiding ambiguity in language.
The idiom was was first recorded in a play by Aristophanes, a Greek playwright renowned for his wit and satire. In his comedy “The Clouds” (423 BCE), Aristophanes used a phrase that can be translated as “to call a fig a fig and a trough a trough” (συκῆν συκῆν καὶ σκάφην σκάφην λέγειν – “sykḗn sykḗn kaì skáphēn skáphēn legein”).
Now, the original Greek version used the word “skaphe” (σκάφη), which translates to “trough” or “basin.” However it also could mean something more obscene.
what would you call this all around the
world there are different phrases for
someone who speaks plainly in France you
say they call a cat a cat and in Spanish
they say you call bread bread so why in
English do we say you call a spade a
spade rather than any other object in
the world like calling a bird house a
bird house or calling flaming squirrel
sauce flaming squirrel sauce it’s
actually a really funny mistranslation
all of these came from a line in a Greek
play which was to call a SCA a SCA and a
SCA
is not a spade it was actually a trough
or a basin or in ancient Greece a urinal
which would give it the extra meaning of
being willing to call something
unpleasant what it actually is but when
arasmus was translating it into Latin
rather than calling a trough a trough he
changed it to the thing that digs the
trough perhaps to avoid the obscenity of
the original which is kind of the
opposite of calling a urinal a urinal
49 Comments
In Germany we say: "Das kind beim Namen nennen.":"Call the child by it's name.".The historians best guess is that it has it's origin in if a child has a different father than expected, therefore call the child by it's real family name.
The spade is from spaten, spadu, spadan, spade, spann, it's Germanic.
The line to call a spade a spade indeed is from a greek proverb… "to call a bowl a bowl".
Oh! That phrase isn’t referring to the card suit!
That there is the pooper-scooper
My mom went with, "A shit smells just as bad as a shit even if you call it a rose."
Shows a shovel with the word "Spade" on it
Then shows a spade next to it later.
A spade is shaped like a spade
The square one is not a spade, it's a coal shovel.
I don't understand what he's trying to say and I've watched this maybe nine times help
ive never heard that phrase
I call it an edging shovel
Spade is a small one, Shovel is a big one.
In Portugal we say "Chamar os bois pelos nomes" which means "Call the oxen by their names".
Am I the only one who came in here not knowing what the hell a spade is?
I love this channel so much
I thought the phrase was "a horse is a horse"
I had never heard 'Call a Spade a Spade' in positive terms and sadly have only ever heard it used to 'put one in their place' or otherwise describe the actions of someone doing so. To put it bluntly, I've only heard the phrase used with Racist, Bigoted, Classist, or Elitist intentions where people would defend the use of hurtful language because 'they're only saying what it is' as if a stereotype was 100% factual.
I call that a shovel.
You’re so damn cute. Are you dating?
its a fuckin shovel its two handed tool with
and it's bloody large
a spade is tiny
You know that's a bad word for a male to say that think about it
Ngl I didn't understand this video
I always thought it meant the card suit… ♠️
I would never call that a spade because it's a flat head shovel 😂
Daddy. 💪🏻😍
“What would you call this?”
Me: A SHOVEL *looks at sign* oh
Wait the fact that that isnt called a spade everywhere is even funnier.
That is a shovel to me, but i wouldnt say its not a spade. Spades are for cutting into dirt but refer to any pointy-ended shovel; thats clearly thin enough to do so so sure. Call it a spade.
But its clearly a spade elsewhere as well! and not a shovel, trowel, or otherwise.
And with people bringing up the card suit; I actually thought the shovel was named after the card! Which is why i assiciate point with point. Never occured to me to think spade-a-spade was cards, just shovels.
I was always told that it was a racist phrase.
Love your content. Its really educational and somehow very relevant for being sp obscure.
And sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.
That's a shovel
Thats a Shovel
Sorry… I got distracted by your butt
Ohhhhh
That isn't a spade,
I'm from Spain and the bread thing is true
spaten
Speaking as a musician, I get what you mean in comparing Dead to jazz. It’s not at all the same genre-wise. But in terms of improvisational chops, they both require a lot of skill. Jazz usually has established points at which individual instrumentalists have solos, and those solos are usually measured out at a specific length—so the skill there is in following chord changes and creating an interesting and complex melody on the fly. With The Grateful Dead, you really have to feel intuitively when it’s time for a solo, play something kickass for as long as you can without it falling apart, and then pass it to the next soloist or back to the band—that’s where the skills are in playing Dead.
Da heck is a spade? I always say shovel.
theres a difference between a a shovel that is a shovel because its square headed
That called a schop in the Netherlands
"The term spade is anatomically incorrect"
In Italy we say "call things by their name"
The Spanish phrase is, in fact, "al pan pan y al vino vino". "Bread, (you call it) bread; and wine, wine."
I was today-years-old when I learned a spade is a shovel and not a sword. There's a false friend in the portuguese language – espada – which means "sword" and also designates the card suit. A King of Spades ♠️ in Portuguese is "Rei de Espadas" ⚔️. Thinking of it as "swords" was normal, because it sounds knightly.
In Portuguese, the phrase has no subject, verb or complement. It's just "bread bread, cheese cheese" ("pão pão, queijo queijo") and describes someone or something that is straightforward / frank.
One can also "call the oxes by their names" ("chamar os bois pelos nomes") – more often used as a request to be clear and honest about something.
I don't get it 😭
and I still call a spade a shovel
I don’t think we have this in Dutch. However we do have a phrase that try to convey the same thing: “Het beestje bij de staart nemen” (taking the beast by its tail)
It's a shovel???