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tsuwm #173835 02/21/08 03:15 PM
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This is a stretch, but it just might be the origin of the word: vanilla
1662, from Sp. vainilla "vanilla plant," lit. "little pod," dim. of vaina "sheath," from L. vagina "sheath" (see vagina). So called from the shape of the pods. European discovery 1521 by Hernando Cortes' soldiers on reconnaissance in southeastern Mexico. Meaning "conventional, of ordinary sexual preferences" is 1970s, from notion of whiteness and the common choice of vanilla ice cream. Vanillin is from 1868.

the other OED

Jackie #173839 02/21/08 03:32 PM
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"stretch" "vagina"

Huh Huh Huh

-joe (Beavis) friday

tsuwm #173841 02/21/08 03:38 PM
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GEEZ--that's not what I meant at all! I meant the all-too-often connection with a woman being considered a tease. ACK! (And quit that laughing!)

Jackie #173894 02/22/08 05:20 PM
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I email'd dictionary.com (parent site of thesaurus.com) asking for their explanation; but the contact procedure is so convoluted as to leave one little hope for a response.

as I initially feared, this has all the earmarks of a future rehashed topic...

-joe (job security, I guess) friday

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