Beautiful 'figs'
While attending a music festival in Italy, my friend and I were enjoying the local figs. Wishing to be appreciative of the wonderful fruit trees around us, my friend made a comment about the bella figa. Unfortunately, he had not said beautiful figs as he had hoped - but he'd told the woman with us that she had beautiful genitals!
Editor's note: The Italian word for a fig is un fico.
Sent by: Jessie
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I went out with an Italian man for a while and he translated it as "beautiful pussy"!
In college, in Southern California, my professor was telling us about a certain association. I can't remember what it was but the abbreviation was FICA. Instead of pronouncing it F-I-C-A she pronounced it 'fica' like a normal word without spelling it. She was saying things like "Oh, fica is a great association. You all should join the fica and be a part of fica!" me, being the only Italian-speaker there, had a bit of a chuckle. All the other students had no idea what I was laughing at.
It might be worth knowing that in Italian slang, figo (coming from figo) means 'someone cool', and a woman who fa la figa is a lady who is stuck up and thinks she's the bees knees.
I actually told a friend that una bella figa meant 'beautiful figure' as a joke. Unfortunately he's the type who can say anything and get away with it and he used the phrase quite successfully!
Fico is a fig tree, fica is a fig and yes, a slang expression for female genitals. Tip: In Italian the tree is always masculine and the fruit feminine.
While it is generally true that the tree is masculine and the fruit is feminine, fico stands as an exception to the rule, being used for both the fruit and the tree. When saying fica you refer to female genitals and more often to a beautiful woman or girl.
As a teenager, I was in Italy for the first time. I asked a male fruit vendor Vorrei delle fiche his response was, Anch'io vorrei delle fiche. We should have said fichi. I never got the figs and didn't understand till I asked someone else what I had said wrong.
Fiona: change your name in Tuscany!
I was introducing the substitute teacher who was going to cover my leave period to my English learners in Livorno. When I mentioned her name, Fiona, this bunch of solid citizens all looked surprised and burst out laughing. Confused, I called the most senior student - a sprightly 75 year-old lady - out of class, and asked her help. She explained that in Tuscany, 'c' is often aspirated and that it seemed that their new teacher rejioced in the name Figona, 'huge female genitals'.
After a hurried chat with Fiona, and doing my impression of a Belisha Beacon, I introduced 'Mary' to the class...
Bella figa is a very vulgar way to describe a beautiful woman in Italy. Be careful!
I made the same mistake here in Torino. I was trying to order some figs off the menu and used fige instead of figi. i started off by asking how was the fige, how much i loved it when it was fresh, as long as it wasn't too old, how i loved to eat it....on and on. the lady was clearly shocked when i brought it up, so I kept going on and on about it trying to explain how much i liked it.
I had no idea why i had captured the attention of everyone in the cafe until someone came and told my of my error. Everyone in the place had a pretty good laugh about it. They even joke about it now and ask if i ever found any when i go there now. I also got lots of differnt fig presents as the weeks went on. cookies, jellied, candied, jars...
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