# "Not afraid to call a spade a spade" **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 3, 2017, 5:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-afraid-to-call-a-spade-a-spade/785765 "2017-05-03T05:08:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 1:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-afraid-to-call-a-spade-a-spade/785765/21 "2017-05-03T13:50:37Z")
[Calling a spade a spade](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M2vkO2kyPDE) (00:16 video) ---
**Author:** ![elbows](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b3f665/32.png) [@elbows](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elbows)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-afraid-to-call-a-spade-a-spade/785765/22 "2017-05-03T14:05:53Z")
Not being afraid to call someone out on something, is an admirable trait, when employed with nuance and tact. There is, for me, a difference between someone describing another in this way, and someone self proclaiming themselves so. Too often though, those self proclaiming, are simply attempting to excuse away their assholish behaviours. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 2:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-afraid-to-call-a-spade-a-spade/785765/23 "2017-05-03T14:20:38Z")
I was in the Navy, where I learned to call a spade a fuckin’ shovel. ---
**Author:** ![Maurie](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/df788c/32.png) [@Maurie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maurie)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-afraid-to-call-a-spade-a-spade/785765/24 "2017-05-03T14:27:13Z")
Along with a sense of tactlessness, any of these phrases (calls it like he sees it, tells it like it is, etc) give me the impression that the person is likely to be closed-minded and set in their ways and will be insisting that a fork is a spade no matter how many other people try to tell him otherwise. ---
**Author:** ![WOOKINPANUB](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wookinpanub/32/132_2.png) [@WOOKINPANUB](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WOOKINPANUB)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-afraid-to-call-a-spade-a-spade/785765/25 "2017-05-03T16:54:14Z")
I’d take it as almost a warning to prepare myself that the person is particularly blunt. I’d also wonder if the speaker had come to me via The Way Back Time Machine. ---
**Author:** ![astro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/9dc877/32.png) [@astro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astro)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 5:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-afraid-to-call-a-spade-a-spade/785765/26 "2017-05-03T17:34:28Z")
Oddly people who like to call the Spade don’t much like having the Spade called on them. Sent from my SM-G930V using Tapatalk ---
**Author:** ![DrCube](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a3d4f5/32.png) [@DrCube](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrCube)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-afraid-to-call-a-spade-a-spade/785765/27 "2017-05-03T18:11:09Z")
> [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](#): > > Now let’s do niggardly 🙂 Let’s do it. Or are you reneging on that offer? ---
**Author:** ![gigi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a587f6/32.png) [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2017, 6:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-afraid-to-call-a-spade-a-spade/785765/28 "2017-05-03T18:21:29Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > Cecily: “Do you suggest, Miss Fairfax, that I entrapped Ernest into an engagement? How dare you? This is no time for wearing the shallow mask of manners. When I see a spade I call it a spade.” > > Gwendolen: “I am glad to say that I have never seen a spade. It is obvious that our social spheres have been widely different.” > > - Oscar Wilde, _The Importance of being Earnest_ Hooray! Our family would read plays before we saw them, each taking a part or two. I got to read Gwendolen since that’s my name and for once it’s spelled correctly! Good times. Anyhoo, the phrase in the OP makes me think of a blowhard who proclaims things without regard or thought. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/not-afraid-to-call-a-spade-a-spade/785765.md?page=1)