Calling a spade a spade (00:16 video)
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.
I was in the Navy, where I learned to call a spade a fuckin’ shovel.
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.
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.
Oddly people who like to call the Spade don’t much like having the Spade called on them.
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Let’s do it.
Or are you reneging on that offer?
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.