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klingklang77
kraftwerk!
Member since 7/06 11489 total posts
Name:
Völlig losgelöst
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"call a spade a spade"
Would you use this phrase? Why or why not?
I learned something this week about this phrase and I'm trying really hard to understand why not to use it, but I just can't wrap my head around it.
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Posted 1/4/16 6:17 AM  |
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ANewDayHasCome
Love multiplies, not divides
Member since 11/12 14481 total posts
Name:
Me
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Re: "call a spade a spade"
I use it. To me it's saying call it like it is. Don't pretend something is something else.
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| Posted 1/4/16 6:20 AM |
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klingklang77
kraftwerk!
Member since 7/06 11489 total posts
Name:
Völlig losgelöst
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Re: "call a spade a spade"
Posted by ANewDayHasCome
I use it. To me it's saying call it like it is. Don't pretend something is something else.
Yeah, I understand the meaning. I don't use it because I just don't use the phrase for any particular reason.
But I learned that people tend not to use it for a particular reason. I'll wait to see what more people have to say.
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| Posted 1/4/16 6:26 AM |
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alli3131
Peanut is here!!!!!!
Member since 5/09 18388 total posts
Name:
Allison
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Re: "call a spade a spade"
Posted by klingklang77
Posted by ANewDayHasCome
I use it. To me it's saying call it like it is. Don't pretend something is something else.
Yeah, I understand the meaning. I don't use it because I just don't use the phrase for any particular reason.
But I learned that people tend not to use it for a particular reason. I'll wait to see what more people have to say.
It can be perceived as a racial slur but the use and meaning dates way back before it. So I would use it.
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| Posted 1/4/16 7:01 AM |
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Re: "call a spade a spade"
I think it is just an old term and that is why you don't hear it much.
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| Posted 1/4/16 7:03 AM |
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klingklang77
kraftwerk!
Member since 7/06 11489 total posts
Name:
Völlig losgelöst
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Re: "call a spade a spade"
Posted by alli3131
Posted by klingklang77
Posted by ANewDayHasCome
I use it. To me it's saying call it like it is. Don't pretend something is something else.
Yeah, I understand the meaning. I don't use it because I just don't use the phrase for any particular reason.
But I learned that people tend not to use it for a particular reason. I'll wait to see what more people have to say.
It can be perceived as a racial slur but the use and meaning dates way back before it. So I would use it.
This is where I'm at, but I've read that spade is a racial slur, but its use is becoming archaic.
What about the word "faggot"? It's a bunch of sticks used as fuel for a fire. For the record, I'd never use that word.
Perhaps, "call a spade a spade" will eventually go the way of "faggot"?
I was just really surprised to learn that this phrase was a racial slur and offends people. And I'm pretty PC  , but this is something I just can't wrap my head around.
Message edited 1/4/2016 7:17:37 AM.
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| Posted 1/4/16 7:17 AM |
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LSP2005
Bunny kisses are so cute!
Member since 5/05 19461 total posts
Name:
L
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Re: "call a spade a spade"
I think it is a very old phrase which in the 1800/1900s took on an anti black racist connotation. I don't use it though. Edit Wikipedia says the phrase is from the 1500s in English, but a similar phrase call a fig a fig, was used in 150 Greece. But apparently only the word spade is racist, not the phrase. So to avoid confusion the phrase went out of favor.
Message edited 1/4/2016 8:29:41 AM.
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| Posted 1/4/16 8:21 AM |
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blu6385
Member since 5/08 8351 total posts
Name:
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Re: "call a spade a spade"
do I use it no but I would have no problem hearing it or using it if the situation called for it.
I had no idea it was a racial slur and honestly if someone really got offended by my if I were to say the phrase I would think they are being overly sensitive
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| Posted 1/4/16 8:39 AM |
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Mom0710
LIF Adolescent
Member since 9/14 682 total posts
Name:
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Re: "call a spade a spade"
I use it all the time. I don't know why i do thou. I also say "it is what it is". I'm not annoying to be around at all
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| Posted 1/4/16 9:40 AM |
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Mom0710
LIF Adolescent
Member since 9/14 682 total posts
Name:
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Re: "call a spade a spade"
Posted by Mom0710
I use it all the time. I don't know why i do thou. I also say "it is what it is". I'm not annoying to be around at all
I had no idea about the racial slur. That is not my intention. I use it in place of "it is what it is". Just calling it like I see it, Kwim?
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| Posted 1/4/16 9:42 AM |
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DaniJude
You're My Home <3
Member since 11/06 14815 total posts
Name:
Danielle
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Re: "call a spade a spade"
Ex-MIL used that term a lot.
I had never heard of it before her using it.
The meaning of it, sure, but not that specific term. I have heard people say the same thing in other ways.
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| Posted 1/4/16 9:42 AM |
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MarathonKnitter
HAPPY
Member since 2/07 17374 total posts
Name:
EMBRACING CHANGE
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Re: "call a spade a spade"
it falls into the same realm of "the pot calling the kettle black."
personally, once i've learned the history of a phrase and how it was (even at one time) used in a racial or derogatory way, i try to stay away from it...
* jerry-rigged
* mickey-moused
* gypped
i don't consider myself overly sensitive or overly PC, but if i can help (in my little part of the world) to guide the language away from those terms, phrases i will.
just my $0.02
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| Posted 1/4/16 10:54 AM |
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klingklang77
kraftwerk!
Member since 7/06 11489 total posts
Name:
Völlig losgelöst
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Re: "call a spade a spade"
Posted by MarathonKnitter
it falls into the same realm of "the pot calling the kettle black."
That came up in the conversation, too. It was determined to NOT be racist.
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| Posted 1/4/16 11:10 AM |
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Re: "call a spade a spade"
OMG Whoopie just used it lol
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| Posted 1/4/16 11:30 AM |
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DaniJude
You're My Home <3
Member since 11/06 14815 total posts
Name:
Danielle
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Re: "call a spade a spade"
Posted by afternoondelight828
OMG Whoopie just used it lol
That's so funny and ironic!!
Weird -- is this like, a topic that has been in the news lately or just a complete coincidence to today's post??
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| Posted 1/4/16 11:43 AM |
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klingklang77
kraftwerk!
Member since 7/06 11489 total posts
Name:
Völlig losgelöst
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Re: "call a spade a spade"
Posted by DaniJude
Posted by afternoondelight828
OMG Whoopie just used it lol
That's so funny and ironic!!
Weird -- is this like, a topic that has been in the news lately or just a complete coincidence to today's post??
Coincidence. Came up in a discussion I was having.
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| Posted 1/4/16 11:48 AM |
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DaniJude
You're My Home <3
Member since 11/06 14815 total posts
Name:
Danielle
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Re: "call a spade a spade"
Posted by klingklang77
Posted by DaniJude
Posted by afternoondelight828
OMG Whoopie just used it lol
That's so funny and ironic!!
Weird -- is this like, a topic that has been in the news lately or just a complete coincidence to today's post??
Coincidence. Came up in a discussion I was having.
That's so ironic!
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| Posted 1/4/16 11:54 AM |
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ineedababynow
LIF Infant
Member since 9/15 328 total posts
Name:
ap
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Re: "call a spade a spade"
I use to. Call it like I see it kinda thing. Never racial. Never occurred to me that it was meant that way.
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| Posted 1/4/16 12:35 PM |
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Hofstra26
Love to Bake!
Member since 7/06 27915 total posts
Name:
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Re: "call a spade a spade"
I never knew it had any racial connotation whatsoever, to me it just always meant "just call it what it is, don't pretend it's something it's not". I use the term and I hear it often enough. I had no clue it was outdated, old fashioned, or racial. Seems like a pretty common and still used term to me.
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| Posted 1/4/16 1:16 PM |
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tourist
Member since 5/05 10425 total posts
Name:
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Re: "call a spade a spade"
I don't use it b/c it is old-fashioned and I generally avoid idioms, but I do know that there is a whole book on the topic.
book
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| Posted 1/4/16 1:25 PM |
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Kitten1929
LIF Adult
Member since 1/13 6040 total posts
Name:
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Re: "call a spade a spade"
But - if you never knew it had a racial connotation, and now you do, will you still continue to use it?
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| Posted 1/4/16 1:35 PM |
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Hofstra26
Love to Bake!
Member since 7/06 27915 total posts
Name:
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Re: "call a spade a spade"
Posted by Kitten1929
But - if you never knew it had a racial connotation, and now you do, will you still continue to use it?
Yes because I really don't see anything racial about the term and my guess is, MOST people would have no clue there is anything racial behind it either. It really ALL depends on the context in which it's used, if you use the term as it's known in modern day language ("call it what it is") I see nothing wrong with it.
ETA - Words by themselves are just that............words. People give them meaning. People give them context. Of course there are some words that really only have one VERY negative connotation but with regards to this saying, I don't really see it as racially insensitive.
Message edited 1/4/2016 1:45:05 PM.
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| Posted 1/4/16 1:42 PM |
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Hofstra26
Love to Bake!
Member since 7/06 27915 total posts
Name:
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Re: "call a spade a spade"
This is how the English dictionary defines this idiom. While it may have another context at some point in time when the term is used in modern day language it most definitely isn't racially motivated.
Cambridge Dictionary
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| Posted 1/4/16 1:50 PM |
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klingklang77
kraftwerk!
Member since 7/06 11489 total posts
Name:
Völlig losgelöst
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Re: "call a spade a spade"
Posted by Hofstra26
This is how the English dictionary defines this idiom. While it may have another context at some point in time when the term is used in modern day language it most definitely isn't racially motivated.
Cambridge Dictionary
Well that's technically a British English dictionary. Technically the word 'spade' is the problem.
I really don't know what to think about it. I'll use it where I am, but not when I am in the US. The same way I used the word 'fag' for cigarette when I lived in Australia.
This is the article that started the discussion:
http://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/09/19/224183763/is-it-racist-to-call-a-spade-a-spade
Message edited 1/4/2016 2:09:34 PM.
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| Posted 1/4/16 2:08 PM |
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Sweetlax22
LIF Adult
Member since 5/10 1904 total posts
Name:
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Re: "call a spade a spade"
I use that phrase sometimes, now that I know it may offend I will try to cut down.
There are a couple of things that had no idea were offensive to people that apparently are.......
A Jewish friend of mine was offended that I used "Here Comes the Bride " at my weeding ceremony, apparently the composer had ties to the nazis and Hitler. I actually researched this (the day before my wedding when I found this out ), turns out Hitler just happened to enjoy the music of this composer so I went ahead with things as planned.
Another term I had no clue about was "picnic " , it is offensive to some African Americans because it is said to have originated from a "pick a ni*****" party during slavey. Never looked into this one myself.
So long story short, people can try not to offend but it isn't always that easy. I feel like if I am missing things on a regular basis and I live and grew up in a relatively unsheltered, diverse area and have friends and coworkers of many many different cultures different from my own , how far behind are other people not in my situation ?
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| Posted 1/4/16 2:49 PM |
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