Now that ISN'T funny.

I was half listening to the interview, and I thought the man who mentioned spades was the man whose father came from the West Indies and whom I assumed was black, so it was, in fact, a joke.

Me too WIWYA

Durhamj. You are right. Any move further right would be goose -steps.

Ariadne
Have a mental image of you saying your previous post standing in front of a class of 14 year olds, probably with your arms folded. I think it's that teachers word.....nonsense that gives it away.

Oh dear! You are spot on with the age group / intended audience, but I really wasn't that sort of teacher - but maybe when I was leading a staff meeting....

As quoted in the OP, the phrase about spades is a dead straight, no nonsense phrase that has a perfectly comprehensible meaning that is not racist. I think we need a term for the practice of winkling out supposed racism where racism doesn't exist. I think the speaker feared that winkling out and that's why he added the "get out" at the end. It is ridiculous when it gets to this kind of nonsense.

Actually, another possible reason for the get out has just clicked in my slow brain. Definitely time to water the houseplants. The world is bonkers.

My brain is much slower than yours then thatbags

Definitely time to get out in the

Jeremy Vine Radio 2 today whilst discussing in-laws said in reply to a listener "Is your FiL the type of man who calls a 'spade a spade?'

So! coming from Yorkshire and having called a spade a spade all my life I have to add that NF said it because it means that you risk making yourself unpopular by speaking the truth.
I have had to learn like many Yorkshire people that it is better not to call a spade a spade when outside Yorkshire.

Don't get your k......s in a twist Margaret X I posted my comment to show what a common and prolific saying it is, as there was a discussion about it earlier concerning NF. I am originally from Lancashire and remember my parents using the phrase to ' say it like it is'. I remember a lot of other sayings also that today may not be deemed politicly correct.

The saying "calling a spade a spade" means telling it how it is and does not have racist connotations.

The phrase in itself is not a joke - but if it is called a "joke" and is used to describe Nigel Farage then presumably it's meant to be a play on words and the word "spade" is meant to be seen as the derogatory term for a black person.

The remark may have been made with no malign intentions but personally I don't find it funny.

It is not "PC madness" to avoid using language in a way that might be insulting to other people.

I am quite ok with the phrase "to call a spade a spade" when used in context, in fact, depending on the company I have been known to indicate how down to earth someone is to use the phrase "he calls a spade a %$£@ing shovel!

However I got the distinct impression while listening to the item that the speaker was using it with a racist connotation.

I have no idea if the speaker was white/black/blue/orange or pink! I would be interested to know what gave rise to previous posters thinking that he was black, as in some ways it might give a better slant on the comment.

Perhaps it was televised? In which case I missed it.

Margaret X NF didn't say it, it was something talking about him. (Not that I am a fan of NF but let's not get confused.)

'Someone'

Sorry all you Yorkists but the expression is not uniquely yours. It first appears in writing in Greece in the 1st century BC: "I call a fig a fig and a spade a spade".

I don't agree, eloethan. I do think it is PC madness, or at least cowardliness, to avoid using expressions that may cause offence to other people. It is the thin end of the wedge to unbalance people's freedom to speak their minds. Obviously I am not saying people should feel free to use phrases like "calling a spade a spade" in a racist way, only that people should be able to use such phrases or words in the way they've always been used and then not be accused of being racist even though other people may use the same phrases in racist ways. I think it's important to keep this distinction between racist intent and lack of racist intent.

In short, one should avoid being racist, which is not the same as avoiding words or phrases someone somewhere may have used in a racist manner. It's not words that are the problem but how they are used.

I did not know before reading this thread that "calling a spade a spade" had ever been given a racist meaning. I have never used it in a way that gave it a racist meaning and I never shall but I shall use the expression in what I feel are appropriate contexts. If anyon calls me a racist for doing that, they need their head examining.

This could be compared to the time when Jeremy Clarkson was deemed racist for the "Slope on the bridge" comment. Not many people were aware that slope was a derogatory term but it was leapt on by a member if the PC brigade. It seems to me that if people are looking for something to be offended by they will find it.

I thought that the best known use of the phrase was in The Importance of being Earnest, when Cecily says she calls a spade a spade, and Gwendolen replies that she has never seen a spade and that their social spheres must be very different (no copy of play to hand to check exact wording).

I suppose Wilde might see the joke if future productions had to substitute hoe for the sake of political correctness.

I don't think anybody with half a jot of common sense has a problem with the spade a spade saying when it has its traditional meaning of being straightforward to the extent of being somewhat blunt and nor should it. In this particular incident, there is the possibility of racist connotations, given Nigel Farage's attitude towards immigrants, and that is what has caused a certain amount of consternation. Equally, of course, the comment might have been ironic. None of this is clear – a storm in a mole hill, perhaps.

I am not a fan of NF..... but as Armarmai writes earlier on in the thread..As the man was referring to NF its really stretching to interpret this as non racist..I was trying to point out that when JV said it no-one would have even thought of a double meaning.

thatbags I expressly said that "calling a spade a spade" is not in any way, shape or form racist. As absent said, the phrase dates back to the 1st century BC - long before black people were being called "spades".

It is the context in which it was used and the fact that the person who used it then said "it's a joke" which indicates that another meaning was implied.

It is very easy to use a time-hallowed phrase such as calling a spade a spade, and then realise that its employment might have been unfortunate at that particular moment and in that particular context. One's reaction might well be on the lines of 'Oops, no joke intended'. Nothing objectionable has been implied, but the speaker realises the inference that may be drawn, tries to correct the situation, and only makes things worse.