It refers to calling something "as it is"[1]—that is, by its right or proper name, without "beating about the bush", but rather speaking truthfully, frankly, and directly about a topic, even to the point of bluntness or rudeness, and even if the subject is considered coarse, impolite, or unpleasant.
It has appeared in many literary and popular works, including those of Oscar Wilde, Charles Dickens, Ralph Waldo Emerson, W. Somerset Maugham, and Jonathan Swift.
[1][2][3] The implication is telling the truth regarding the nature of the thing in question,[4] speaking frankly and directly about it,[2][3] even if it is considered coarse, impolite, or unpleasant.
[4][2][3] Brewer's Dictionary of Phrase and Fable defines it in 1913 as being "outspoken, blunt, even to the point of rudeness", adding that it implies calling "things by their proper names without any 'beating about the bush'".
"[8] Oscar Wilde uses the phrase in his novel The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890), when the character Lord Henry Wotton remarks: "It is a sad truth, but we have lost the faculty of giving lovely names to things.
[10] Other authors who have used it in their works include Charles Dickens,[11] Ralph Waldo Emerson,[12] Robert Browning,[13] Jonathan Swift,[14] and W. Somerset Maugham.
[18] In Portuguese-speaking countries, the equivalent is "chamar os bois pelos nomes",[19] literally, "to call oxen by their names" (a double-entendre; an "ox" can also refer to a cornuted man, a cuckold[20]).