Re: [romconlang] -able

Mark J. Reed WROTE:
>
> "Spade" is old US slang for a Black person.  I assume the original
> source is the playing card suit. Oddly, in the context of playing
> cards it never twigs anything for me, but outside of that context it
> does.  Probably has a lot to do with the fact that "spade" just
> doesn't exist IML outside of cards - certainly not as a name for the
> tool, which has always been a "shovel" (despite the differences that
> exist between the referents of those two words when used "properly").
I believe it derives from "he's as black as the ace of spades."

My parents and grandparents always referred to a small
shovel as a spade, but it seems very rare among people
my age (53) and younger. Perhaps it's more common
among those who have a garden (for growing vegetables
and flowers, not the British garden which may just be
what we call a lawn, AIUI)

--Ph. D.

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