In its entry on the phrase "To call a spade a spade"
Wikipedia tells us that the French equivalent means "To call a cat a cat".
However, the "chat" in Appeler un chat un chat, meant
in the 18th century what "chatte" (feminine) means today:
"pussy", "beaver", "muff", etc.
Moreover, the word "chas", meaning "crack", "fissure"
or "eye" of a needle,
is pronounced exactly the same.
So, as is often the case, the French are much better
at calling a spade a spade than are the Anglophones -
unless "spade" was once a slang term for "penis",
for which I can find no evidence, beyond that
it is cognate with "spada", Italian for "sword".
http://www.expressio.fr/expressions/appeler-un-chat-un-chat.php
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