to call a spade a spade (to call something what it is)
eş: ne pas avoir peur des mots
köken: Literally, “to call a cat a cat”; from the First satire by 17th-century author Nicolas Boileau: "j'appelle un chat un chat, et Rolet un fripon".
without beating around the bush: clearly, directly and earnestly
köken: Literally, “bread, bread, cheese, cheese”, from chamar ao pão, pão e ao queijo, queijo (“to call things as they are”, literally “to call bread bread and cheese cheese”). First attested in the 1820s.
A mistaken translation of Ancient Greek τὰ σῦκα σῦκα, τὴν σκάφην δὲ σκάφην ὀνομάσων (tà sûka sûka, tḕn skáphēn dè skáphēn onomásōn, “calling figs figs, and a trough a trough”). The word σκάφη (skáphē, “trough”) was mistranslated by the Renaissance scholar Desiderius Erasmus as σκαφείον (skapheíon, “digging tool”). Cognate with English call a spade a spade.