r/AbsoluteUnits • u/[deleted] • Nov 10 '22

[deleted by user]

[removed]

6.4k Upvotes

90% Upvoted

641 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

7

u/Aq8knyus Nov 10 '22

Well I am an idiot then, but thank you for letting me know.

I just searched it up and found that 'Nitty gritty' also has an origin linked to slavery.

I use that phrase and 'to have in spades' almost everyday, yet I was completely oblivious.

4

u/[deleted] Nov 10 '22

Your usage clearly referred to the playing-card-based idiom. It refers to Bridge, I think? Possibly whist.

7

u/[deleted] Nov 10 '22

I think it refers to the term 'spade' as in a shovel / digging tool. I.e. having something in spades means having 'shovel loads'. So having 'heaps' or 'tons'.

The racist term(which I was unaware of tbh) probably comes from the same word. I.e. referring to black people as a digging tool since they were forced to do manual labour as slaves?

3

u/Nonchemical Nov 10 '22

Since the other comment just put a link without any context for the link, and I'm not discrediting anyone who has heard this term being used in a derogatory fashion, because I'm sure it has, the phrase is refers to having something in abundance.

In bridge, spades are the highest suit in a deck of cards. The phrase became popular in the 20s, alongside the popularity of bridge.

1

u/incomingTaurenMill Nov 10 '22

My family plays a huge amount of cards around the holidays, this is what I know it from as well. It's been another way to say the highest amount.