# Calling a Spade a Spade...and the racist connection **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 11, 2004, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-a-spade-a-spade-and-the-racist-connection/228722 "2004-02-11T21:48:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Chastain86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-a-spade-a-spade-and-the-racist-connection/228722/1 "2004-02-11T21:48:00Z")
What’s the earliest usage of this phrase? Is it inherently racist in its design, or was it twisted at some point? If not, when did “spade” become a derogatory term for “black person?” ---
**Author:** ![Max\_Carnage](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/max_carnage/32/12775_2.png) [@Max\_Carnage](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Max_Carnage)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 9:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-a-spade-a-spade-and-the-racist-connection/228722/2 "2004-02-11T21:53:51Z")
I always assumed it referred to the shovel like tool. And I live in the South where stereotypically we’re all a bunch of bigots. ---
**Author:** ![Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f0a364/32.png) [@Rube\_E.Tewesday](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rube_E.Tewesday)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 9:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-a-spade-a-spade-and-the-racist-connection/228722/3 "2004-02-11T21:57:16Z")
I always understood it as being an admonition for clear speech, along the lines of “Call a spade a spade, not an instrument for the excavation of earth”, with any racist meaning being a much later “joke”. ---
**Author:** ![Kamino\_Neko](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kamino_neko/32/34_2.png) [@Kamino\_Neko](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kamino_Neko)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 10:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-a-spade-a-spade-and-the-racist-connection/228722/4 "2004-02-11T22:03:12Z")
From [http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19970115](http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19970115) > [@](#): > > the expression to call a spade a spade is thousands of years old and etymologically has nothing whatsoever to do with any racial sentiment. ---
**Author:** ![Ilsa\_Lund](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/a6a055/32.png) [@Ilsa\_Lund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ilsa_Lund)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-a-spade-a-spade-and-the-racist-connection/228722/5 "2004-02-11T22:15:51Z")
> [@Tengu](#): > > From [http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19970115](http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19970115) Ah, yes. _Thousands_ of years old. Jesus said unto his followers: “Thou shalt call a spade a spade!” Those damn Mesopotamians and their gardening implement related wisecracks! ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-a-spade-a-spade-and-the-racist-connection/228722/6 "2004-02-11T22:19:02Z")
You mean it’s not about cheating at cards? ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-a-spade-a-spade-and-the-racist-connection/228722/7 "2004-02-11T22:22:12Z")
> [@Ilsa\_Lund](#): > > Ah, yes. _Thousands_ of years old. Jesus said unto his followers: “Thou shalt call a spade a spade!” > > Those damn Mesopotamians and their gardening implement related wisecracks! And then He called Mary Magdalene a hoe… ---
**Author:** ![Truth\_Seeker](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/5fc32e/32.png) [@Truth\_Seeker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Truth_Seeker)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-a-spade-a-spade-and-the-racist-connection/228722/8 "2004-02-11T22:52:07Z")
Gah. This is starting to get up there with words ending in gry. “Calling a spade a spade” has no racist connotations whatsoever. IIRC, the English phrase came about as the result of a bad translation from _ancient Greek._ It’s actually a mistranslation from Plutarch (and goes back even further) except the original is more correctly rendered, “to call a kneading-trough a kneading-trough.” Oh, and I think there should be a special \*_Revtim_ exception to the rule about not wishing death on someone . . . ---
**Author:** ![panamajack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/47e85d/32.png) [@panamajack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panamajack)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 11:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-a-spade-a-spade-and-the-racist-connection/228722/9 "2004-02-11T23:25:52Z")
[Another explanation](http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxtocall.html) which goes into more detail along the lines of what **Truth Seeker** was © R-ing. ---
**Author:** ![Gary\_T](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/3ec8ea/32.png) [@Gary\_T](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gary_T)\ **Post date:** [February 11, 2004, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-a-spade-a-spade-and-the-racist-connection/228722/10 "2004-02-11T23:27:22Z")
> [@Chastain86](#): > > What’s the earliest usage of this phrase? Is it inherently racist in its design, or was it twisted at some point? > > If not, when did “spade” become a derogatory term for “black person?” This seems to answer all your questions: [http://www.quinion.com/words/topicalwords/tw-spa1.htm](http://www.quinion.com/words/topicalwords/tw-spa1.htm) Synopsis: The phrase “call a spade a spade” is as described by previous posters. “Spade” = black person derives from “black as the ace of spades” (analogous to “white as snow”), and comes from the early 20th century. (The full phrase “black as the ace of spades” no doubt goes back well before that, not referring to dark-skinned people, but I haven’t yet found a first recorded use.) ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [February 12, 2004, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/calling-a-spade-a-spade-and-the-racist-connection/228722/11 "2004-02-12T01:08:06Z")
_Black as the ace of spades_ to refer to the color of an African-American was a not uncommon phrase in the 1820’s in the US. I found an 1821 cite easily.