Genitalia

[Mark A. Mandel]

Bill Smith <wh5mith at MINDSPRING.COM> writes:

>>>>>
        Not having a vagina, I find it hard to think that the initialism
"VA" would be used (I would suspect at least "VAG," or, more likely in my
mind, [vaej]).  Is anyone familiar with it?
<<<<<

I think it originates in (mis)reading. One who first encounters the word
"vagina" in print may well misread it as the more-familiar "Virginia".
Maybe ze thinks there's a connection with virginity, maybe "down south" or
"in the middle", by analogy between the body and the map of the [East coast
of the] US; or maybe ze simply accepts it, being less inclined to think
about the whys and wherefores of words than we on this list tend to be.

In a related issue, I have seen "Virginia" used for "vagina" by American
Deaf people. Here, though, there may be additional sources for the
confusion, such as the similarity* of the words in speechreading.

* though not identity. "Homophony"? "HomophAny" [sameness of appearance']??

-- Mark A. Mandel