Llamar las cosas por su nombre

Click on the image to learn more information about this idiom in Wikipedia.

Meaning: To tell things bluntly and frankly without beating around the bush without worrying if the person we are talking to might feel offended.

Click on the image to listen to the song «Call a Spade a Spade» by Turnpike Troubadours

Origin: This expression first appeared in the book How to speak and write correctly (1910) by Joseph Devlin. In it, we learn that there are some people who don´t like to speak things frankly and honestly since they don´t want to hurt others and they prefer to adorn their speaking with sweet words while going around and around. On the other hand, there are others who like to brag about what they have and instead of calling a pencil a pencil, they prefer to say, “a writing utensil which uses graphite as to leave an imprint on a piece of paper”.

Click on the image to learn more about the idiom «Call a Spade a Spade» with Learn English Idioms

Example:

•People nowadays use a lot of fancy expressions to call situations. Let´s take the case of the famous Hollywood couple who got divorced because of irreconcilable interests, why not just calling a spade a spade and publish that she was caught red-handed having an affair with the director of her last movie?