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CALL A SPADE A SPADE

"Call a spade a spade" means to speak frankly and directly about something, even if it's unpleasant or embarrassing, essentially saying things as they truly are without sugarcoating or beating around the bush; it signifies honesty and bluntness in communication.



EXAMPLES

I'm not at all secretive, and I'm pretty good at calling a spade a spade.

When discussing the company's financial issues, the CEO decided to 'call a spade a spade' and admit that they were facing serious losses



HISTORY

The idiom originates in the classical Greek of Plutarch's Apophthegmata Laconica, and was introduced into the English language in 1542 in Nicolas Udall's translation of the Apophthegmes, where Erasmus had seemingly replaced Plutarch's images of "trough" and "fig" with the more familiar "spade". It has appeared in many literary and popular works, including those of Oscar Wilde, Charles Dickens, Ralph Waldo Emerson, W. Somerset Maugham, and Jonathan Swift.  

Something I definitely want to do more is visit more museums. I love art and the atmosphere of museums is so relaxing.