Who really gave two figs?
I read the phrase in a poem called "the White Troops Had Their Orders but the Negroes looked like Men". The context:
Who really gave two figs? Neither the earth nor heaven ever trembled...
What is the meaning of "Who really gave two figs"?
In the poem, the author is using the phrase somewhat sardonically. Though there was discrimination against Blacks, it didn't matter in battle:
the white troops had their orders but the Negroes looked like men by Gwendolyn Brooks (African American poet)
They had supposed their formula was fixed.
They had obeyed instructions to devise
A type of cold, a type of hooded gaze.
But when the Negroes came they were perplexed.
These Negroes looked like men. Besides, it taxed
Time and the temper to remember those
Congenital iniquities that cause
Disfavor of the darkness. Such as boxed
Their feelings properly, complete to tags--
A box for dark men and a box for Other--
Would often find the contents had been scrambled.
Or even switched. Who really gave two figs?
Neither the earth nor heaven ever trembled.
And there was nothing startling in the weather.
(1945)
Gwendolyn Brooks (African American poet)
"Who gives a fig" is an idiom that means that you don't care a fig, the fig being defined as a worthless trifle, (MW), as seen in Shakespeare (from 1570s on):
fig as "small, valueless thing" - Etymology Online*
that something or someone is not important to you at all. Also especially used to express how little one cares about another's opinions or actions.
Erasmus, in a letter to Henry VIII in 1523, cried, “Who gives a fig for those puzzling precepts of Pythagoras?”
My guess is that it was then used as two figs, to represent the lack of concern regarding the difference between one small/insignificant thing and another. In the poet's case, she uses it with great understatement to underscore that there is no difference in the value of the lives of black and white men.
*But as @Fumble Fingers states, the "fig" was thought by many to be a dismissive gesture in the plays of Shakespeare. From Etudes rabelaisiennes, footnote Douce, Douce Illustrations of Shakespeare and of ancient manners, with dissertations on the clowns and fools of Shakespeare... pp.302-308
To be honest, my first thought was that fig[s] in this expression alluded to something worthless (c.f. not give a damn, hoot, rap, shit, etc.).
But considering figs are generally regarded as a highly-prized (and nutritious) delicacy, that struck me as slightly odd, so I checked OED and found...
fig (obsolete) A contemptuous gesture which consisted in thrusting the thumb between two of the closed fingers or into the mouth. Also, fig of Spain, and to give (a person) the fig.
Further etymology...
French figue (in phrase faire la figue to make the gesture described), < Italian fica; compare Spanish higa in dar la higa to ‘give the fig’.
By some identified with fig n.1 [the fruit]. According to others, Italian fica had an indecent sense.
Note particularly the last line, the implication of which is nobody really knows who gave (or more accurately, didn't give) the first fig. Exactly who it was in OP's citation is probably just Lit Crit, but my guess is it's two by association with "I don't give two hoots about that!".
Of course, there are bound to be people using fig here who simply see it as a euphemism for fuck. If I had to guess, I'd say that includes almost every single one of over 1000 written instances of...
"I don't give a flying fig!"
The relevant entry in the OED is the following:
- a. As a type of anything small, valueless, or contemptible; also, †a dried fig ; a fig's end . In phrases: †never a fig = not at all; (to †bid, care, give) a fig, or fig's end for ; to mind, value (a person or thing), be worth a fig or fig's end .
c1450 Crt. of Love xcviii, A Figge for all her chastite!
c1540 (▸?a1400) Destr. Troy 12206 He fortherit neuer a fyge with his fight yet.
a1572 J. Knox Hist. Reformation Scotl. in Wks. (1846) I. 173 A feg for the fead, and a buttoun for the braggyne of all the heretikis..in Scotland.
1600 S. Rowlands Letting of Humors Blood i. 7 **All Beere in Europe is not worth a figge.* *
a1604 M. Hanmer Chron. Ireland 115 in J. Ware Two Hist. Ireland (1633) , If hee threaten as an enemie, a figge for his Monarchy.
1632 R. Sherwood Dict. in R. Cotgrave Dict. French & Eng. Tongues (new ed.) (at Figge), Not to care a figge for one, faire la figue à.
1634 W. Clerk Withals's Dict. Eng. & Lat. 557 Fumi umbra non emerim, I will not give a fig's end for it.
1710 Brit. Apollo III. 3/1 No Man Does care a Fig for such a Woman.
1728 C. Cibber Vanbrugh's Provok'd Husband ii. i. 34 Pshah! a Fig for his Money!
1840 Thackeray Catherine vii, We have it from nature, and so a fig for Miss Edgeworth.
1852 Thackeray Henry Esmond III. ii. 56 Nor..is the young fellow worth a fig that would.
1855 F. K. Robinson Gloss. Yorks. Words 55 A feg's end for it.
1887 Poor Nellie (1888) 185 Charlie does not care a fig about it.