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https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/09/19/224183763/is-it-racist-to-call-a-spade-a-spade https://www.npr.org/sections/codeswitch/2013/09/19/224183763..

• cm2012 8y ago
  No one but etymologists would think of the phrase that way, so the origin doesn't really matter.
  • azhu 8y ago
    Did you look at the linked article? The point is that it reinforces a potential implicit bias. "Rather than taking the chance of unintentionally offending someone or of being misunderstood, it is best to relinquish the old innocuous proverbial expression all together." No one is attacking you and there is no need to defend.
  • jaredklewis 8y ago
    Perhaps I should have clarified that I wasn’t accusing the parent of being racist, but I do think it is an incidentally racist phrase we can probably do without. Maybe just because I am from the south and old enough to remember older relatives using the word spade in an overtly racist way (“Dennis Rodman is as black as a spade,” and such), but I don’t think the etymology is particularly academic. Anyways, sorry for the off topic tangent.
    • cm2012 8y ago
      Fair, I've never heard of that and will drop the expression.