In article ,
Janet Baraclough writes:
|
| Or is the point that figs, troughs, and spades, are euphemisms for
| something else ?
|
| Fig certainly is ; it was a vulgar term for female sex organ, at least
| 500 years ago, in Italian, Spanish and English. "I don't give a fig" did
| not refer to fruit, and the modesty "fig leaf" on nudes was a double
| entendre.

If you have references, I suggest passing them on to the OED. There
aren't any references to that use, but there are to some of its
derivations - including the 'fig' gesture, which is obviously
sexual - and it refers to the belief that it had that use in Italian.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.