How to punctuate sentences like "I'm just calling a spade, a spade."?

Question

I was browsing Area 51 and I saw this comment: > I'm just calling a spade, a spade. I'm never quite sure how to punctuate sentences like these where a phrase is repeated back to back, without any other words to separate them. Not putting punctuation feels weird, but so does adding a comma. Neither intuitively read like I would say them in a conversation. With a comma, I would pause before reading the second "a spade"; without punctuation, the inflexion in my voice would be off. So, is "I'm just calling a spade, a spade." properly punctuated?

Answer 1

Hi, Esteban. I’d say this sentence falls under the rule to use a comma wherever necessary to avoid confusion.

You can see an example and explanation of this rule on the Purdue Online Writing Lab website. https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/punctuation/commas/extended_rules_for_commas.html

Item 11 shows the rule.

Best wishes,

Jennifer Jenson