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![]() ![]() Even when we have science bludgeoning us with statistical exclamation points and our own growing foreboding from the still, small voice that knows true from false, we understandably take the path of comfort through linguistic justifications, obscurations, and distractions. More common is using language to bury the obvious. We’ve got a lot of earth to move and only by telling the fierce truth about what’s really happening, only by stepping out into the open with the harsh reality of what we know deep down only if enough of us speak, organize, and act from the gritty actuality of our global predicament do we have any hope of moving earth - our species of it, at least - off the path of social collapse and possible extinction. I assumed it was referring to the card suit, but in fact, “in the expression, the word ‘spade’ refers to the instrument used to move earth, a very common tool.”Īs I consider “calling a spade a spade” now, I’m struck by the poetic precision. I’ve always been curious about the term as I’ve often heard it used by bosses when they’ve got bad news or by men who can definitely beat me at arm wrestling. ![]() The phrase “call a spade a spade” originated with the classical Greek philosopher Plutarch and has been recycled through time by the likes of Oscar Wilde, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and others. ![]()
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