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2006-07-21 06:13:42 · 10 answers · asked by mickeok 1 in Social Science Anthropology

10 answers

Heh... I've always been one to call a spade a spade, even if I mean shovel :) Wikipedia is a bit unclear on this - the entry for shovel indicates that a spade is a type of shovel that is designed for spading clumps of soil, and usually has a point. The entry for spade then goes on to thoroughly confuse me by saying that a spade can have either a curved OR straight edge.
The word in Old English is spaedu, cognate forms being Dutch, Swedish and Danish spade, German Spaten; also related is spoon. It is derived from the Greek spathe, a broad blade of wood or metal, and so used of the blade of an oar or sword,which was latinized as spatha, and used of a broad paddle for stirring liquid, of a piece of wood used by weavers for driving home the woof, and particularly of a broad two-edged sword military without a point, as in the title spatharius.
gardening, a spade is a hand tool used to dig or loosen ground, or to break up clumps in the soil. Together with the fork it forms one of the chief implements wielded by the hand in agriculture and horticulture. It is sometimes considered a type of shovel. Its typical shape is a broad flat blade with a sharp lower edge, straight or curved. The upper edge on either side of the handle affords space for the used's foot, which drives it into the ground. The wooden handle ends in a cross-piece, sometimes T-shaped and sometimes forming a kind of loop for the hand.

Small and/or plastic toy versions of the same tool are used to dig sand castles on a beach or in a sand-box.

The Spanish playing cards had swords for the suit which we know as spades, and the suit was called espada, hence spade in English; in Dutch schoppen, which also means 'spades', not swords.
In the oil and chemical process industries, a spade is a round piece of metal with a small tab that is placed in between two pipe flanges to give positive isolation, usually to prevent cross contamination between fluids or to allow work on the line. The name comes from the shape: a little like a garden spade. The small tab lets one see that the spade is in place.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spade
Books
Never Hit a Jellyfish With a Spade
How to Survive Life`s Smaller Challenges
by Browning, Guy
Commit a murder with a spade!' by Victoria Thompson.
Soldier with a spade. by Judi McLeod

2006-07-22 04:41:43 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 2 0

Never never never with a spade!!!!
What's the matter with you?
Only with a HEART!
Or was it a diamond.............
oh, but don't we work hard for those two points!

2006-07-21 09:56:17 · answer #2 · answered by NANCY K 6 · 0 0

Hearts Clubs and Diamonds

2006-07-21 06:17:17 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

Motorhead

2006-07-21 06:30:58 · answer #4 · answered by Nneave 4 · 0 0

with a spade you can dig a grave

2006-07-21 06:29:16 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

You will get stopped and searched.


The police will think that you have burried the evidence.

2006-07-21 06:28:28 · answer #6 · answered by eireblood2 4 · 0 0

Only if it's the one-eyed Jack.

2006-07-21 06:16:50 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

With a fork?

2006-07-21 06:16:50 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 0 0

You dug a hole

2006-07-21 06:21:51 · answer #9 · answered by angelcake 5 · 0 0

yes.....?????

2006-07-21 06:27:32 · answer #10 · answered by rubytuesday. 4 · 0 0

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