I know that spade can be racist but isn’t it usually not racist?
Looks like it’s only going to be sold in the Japanese market, where the name would have no racist connotations. So probably not an issue.
The Mitsubishi Pajero’s name means “jerk-off” in Spanish, so it’s known as the Montero in the Americas.
Huh… I didn’t know that gardening implements and playing cards (and I mean seriously, the symbol on the vanity plate in the picture is just the playing card spade symbol) were racist.
Seriously? I mean, I know spade is a slur, but it’s so uncommonly used, and so divorced from the context anybody would even use the slur in you have to be trying to get offended by it.
This is my spanish word for the day; muchas gracias, wanker!*
*i am only teasing please don’t shoot me 
Wasn’t it only racist during a brief period?
I only know it from some old movies that purport to be imitating the 1950’s (though they do a poor job at that).
Seems like “Jap” was considered a slur more recently and for a longer period. I guess even that stigma has faded since the OP is using it and nobody seems to object.
–G!
Take all the trauma, drama, comments,
The guilt and doubt and shame
The “what ifs” and “if onlys”
The shackles and the chains
The violence and aggression,
The pettiness and scorn,
The jealousy and hatred,
The tempest and discord,
AND GIVE IT UP!
. --Joe Walsh (solo)
. The Confessor
I remember it being tossed around as a common racial insult in the 70s.
So when I play spades what should I call it?
“Spade” faded out as an epithet by the 1970s. In 1974, Mott the Hoople could use it in “All the Way From Memphis” without any objections, and The Black Bird in 1975 joked about it. Basically, the racists stopped using it in the 50s or so and the pejorative meaning faded away.
It similar in that respect to “Shine.” No one objected when a movie by that name came out, and it even won an Oscar.
You should always call a spade, a spade.
From the article:
No, that’s just completely wrong. The only way that the headline could be written correctly is Toyota Car Name Was Reconstruction Era Racial Slur.
Headlines are usually written with an “active” voice (at least IME); so “Toyota car name discovered to be Reconstruction-era racial slur” would be more suitable, I’d suggest.
Martini, I agree that the form you propose is more common, but it’s a passive (with the “is” ellided).
You have to admit, ‘Mitsubishi Masturbator’ has a nice ring to it.
Depends how much space you’ve got on the page when you’re laying it out. 
I think this would be a far bigger deal if they actually, you know, sold the car here. Toyota sells a lot of cars in their home market with inscrutable names. Alphard? Ractis? Vitz? Come on.
At any rate, Jalopnik is a pile of shit. They’re owned by Gawker and just like Gizmodo they care more about being assholes than anything else. I don’t know why anyone would link to any of the trash they write.
Let alone use one clear racial slur when linking to another which may not be understood as such by the people involved who were naming a car for use in their own country.
It sounds like a video 3d "shoot 'em up ", Ultimate Masturbator !
Just don’t call it a fucking shovel.