Tell It Like It Is Orange

Illustration of monkey in orange on orange text in upper half with purple background. Lower half is white text on orange background.

“Tell it like it is” idiom is used when someone is willing or is required to say the facts as they are, speak honestly regardless of the matter, to be candid or frank. The first time “tell it like it is” was recorded dates to 1899 in the Iowa State Bystander newspaper, reporting the words spoken by an individual about African American issues.