However, that's not an excuse to keep from learning and thinking about what the things we say really mean, and the cultural baggage attached to them. Here are five common phrases used in Western culture that have some seriously messed-up, racist backgrounds.
1. "Call A Spade A Spade"
Until recently, I genuinely thought this phrase only meant "call it like it is." I grew up hearing it, and even though I've never used it that often (mainly because I just don't think it's that commonplace among millennials), I didn't think there was anything problematic about the term. However, after doing some research, I'm definitely not using it again.
"Call a spade a spade" has been in use for nearly half a millennium (and variations on it date
at least as far back as A.D. 120). But it didn't start to take on the racist connotation it has now until the early 20th century. Evidently, in the 1920s, "spade" started being used as a slang term, and then a derogatory slur, for a black person. This racist shift in the phrase's meaning also lead to the equally offensive phrase "black as the ace of spades."