# Best way to describe an audio cable in formal instructions
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-describe-an-audio-cable-in-formal-instructions/672398
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [October 27, 2013, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-describe-an-audio-cable-in-formal-instructions/672398 "2013-10-27T23:56:09Z")
**Posts on this page:** 19
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@CoastalMaineiac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoastalMaineiac)
#### Post date: [October 27, 2013, 11:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-describe-an-audio-cable-in-formal-instructions/672398/1 "2013-10-27T23:56:09Z")
One of the components needed for a set of instructions I’m working on is 1/8-inch **male-to-male** audio cable. The ends of a cable are called male or female for exactly the reasons you think they are; the male end is meant to be inserted into a receptacle. The receptacle is female. So a male-to-male cable means both ends plug into a jack.
I’m trying to be a little more politically correct. Any suggestions?
---
### Author:  [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-describe-an-audio-cable-in-formal-instructions/672398/2 "2013-10-28T00:32:30Z")
Personally I don’t see a problem using the terms “male” and “female” in formal documents. You may not think that it’s politically correct, but male/female is the standard terminology for all sorts of electrical connectors. I would add the word “mono” or “stereo” as appropriate as well as then length of the cable (i.e. 1/8 inch male-to-male stereo audio cable, 3 ft length).
If you want to avoid using the word “male” you could call it a 1/8 inch phone plug, but this tends to sometimes cause confusion with RCA “phono” plugs/jacks (for “phonograph”, since they were originally used with turntables). The “female” connector would be called a 1/8 inch phone jack.
ETA: A male-to-male cable is also commonly referred to as a patch cable, so a “3 ft stereo audio patch cable with 1/8 inch phone plugs on either end” would be be one possible example.
---
### Author:  [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-describe-an-audio-cable-in-formal-instructions/672398/3 "2013-10-28T00:52:33Z")
Concave and convex? 🙂
---
### Author:  [@DataX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DataX)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-describe-an-audio-cable-in-formal-instructions/672398/4 "2013-10-28T01:01:35Z")
I used to work selling and servicing equipment that used audio cables (plus most other types of consumer electronics). There were occasions were I would censor myself and not use the term male/female, but in most cases it was due to my suspecting that in addition to perhaps raising some eyebrows - they wouldn’t understand anyway. No one ever had a problem, although I did catch a couple people smiling…
Some other options - include a diagram of the cable - or just use the term “standard audio cable”. Most people in the know are going to assume you mean male/male - in fact only if you weren’t using that would I think you’d have a problem - as many places don’t sell those.
But unless you are selling this to the family research council or some right wing nut job place - I don’t see a problem. Even if it was to them - I think you’d be ok. Maybe use the term “standard male” instead of just “male” to soften the blow. I kinda like the RCA term MYSELF, but think some people might be confused and look for an RCA branded cable.
And agree that using stereo/mono might be a good idea as well (although you can also explain if they only have stereo - they can use one “side”. But I’d put that in a footnote or something - if I included it at all).
---
### Author:  [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 1:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-describe-an-audio-cable-in-formal-instructions/672398/5 "2013-10-28T01:04:43Z")
“Male” and “female” as names for connectors are perfectly politically correct. That’s what they’re called, and there’s no negative or improper connotation.
Now, if you were to say “We chose a male connector because it was obviously superior to the female connector”, or “The female connector stays at home while the male connector goes to work” … that would be politically incorrect.
---
### Author:  [@johnpost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnpost)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 1:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-describe-an-audio-cable-in-formal-instructions/672398/6 "2013-10-28T01:14:29Z")
there are plugs and jacks/sockets.
you will find in catalogs that will have a description/specification for the cable the a table listing the length and the ends indicated with M or F.
it is a convention that has been used for a century.
---
### Author:  [@PatriotGrrrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatriotGrrrl)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 1:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-describe-an-audio-cable-in-formal-instructions/672398/7 "2013-10-28T01:21:11Z")
This is joke, right? You’re trying to make some kind of political jab?
---
### Author:  [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-describe-an-audio-cable-in-formal-instructions/672398/8 "2013-10-28T01:26:54Z")
The guiding principle for all technical language, in any field whatsoever, is that it should be clear. The use of “male” and “female” for plugs is not only clear, but manages to be so even for people who haven’t had training in the appropriate jargon. All terminology should be so lucky.
---
### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-describe-an-audio-cable-in-formal-instructions/672398/9 "2013-10-28T01:41:33Z")
The only thing you need to fix is that 1/8-inch phone connectors are actually 3.5mm.
---
### Author:  [@Rick](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-describe-an-audio-cable-in-formal-instructions/672398/10 "2013-10-28T02:29:11Z")
Just be careful if you are selling to LA County.
> **[Master/Slave](https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/masterslave/)**
>
> Has Los Angeles requested equipment vendors avoid using the industry term 'Master/Slave' in product descriptions?
---
### Author:  [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-describe-an-audio-cable-in-formal-instructions/672398/11 "2013-10-28T02:35:45Z")
> [@CoastalMaineiac](#):
>
> One of the components needed for a set of instructions I’m working on is 1/8-inch **male-to-male** audio cable. The ends of a cable are called male or female for exactly the reasons you think they are; the male end is meant to be inserted into a receptacle. The receptacle is female. So a male-to-male cable means both ends plug into a jack.
>
> I’m trying to be a little more politically correct. Any suggestions?
Use what you have. It’s correct and proper. Only Beavis & Butthead would snicker, not you.
But you need to specify the kind of connector. 1/8 inch (or 3.5mm) is probably a mini-phone plug, so call it that. You should also specify if it carries 2, 3 or 4 conductors to avoid ambiguities.
---
### Author:  [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-describe-an-audio-cable-in-formal-instructions/672398/12 "2013-10-28T03:45:12Z")
I think 1/8" and 3.5 mm are interchangeable.
> [@Rick](#):
>
> Just be careful if you are selling to LA County.
> [Master/Slave | Snopes.com](http://www.snopes.com/inboxer/outrage/master.asp)
I was a LORAN technician in the Coast Guard. Origianally, master LORAN stations were paired up with slave stations. The master would transmit first and the slaves after. If the master’s signal drifted, it was the slave stations job to adjust their signal to maintain the time difference. Sometime in the 1960s, the slave stations were redesignated “Secondary” stations, so now there were Masters and Secondaries.
As for the slave thing, well my ancestors were slaves until they crossed the Red Sea. I don’t have any issue with the word. But I can’t really feel how badly someone else’s shoe pinches their foot. So I didn’t think too much about the change from slave to secondary. I just thought it was stupid they didn’t redesignate “Master” to “Primary”. Doesn’t “Primary/Secondary” sound more consistant than “Master/Secondary”?
---
### Author:  [@friedo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/friedo)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 4:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-describe-an-audio-cable-in-formal-instructions/672398/13 "2013-10-28T04:36:42Z")
> [@Ranger\_Jeff](#):
>
> As for the slave thing, well my ancestors were slaves until they crossed the Red Sea. I don’t have any issue with the word. But I can’t really feel how badly someone else’s shoe pinches their foot. So I didn’t think too much about the change from slave to secondary. I just thought it was stupid they didn’t redesignate “Master” to “Primary”. Doesn’t “Primary/Secondary” sound more consistant than “Master/Secondary”?
As it happens, I work on a software product that went through precisely that nomenclature change. We went from master/slave to primary/secondary. But I think that was largely due to the fact that the architecture was changed from a single master/slave pair to a primary/multiple-secondaries configuration. Of course there’s no reason why a master can’t have more than one slave. But I guess the terminology is not generally used that way.
As for the phone plugs, the official standard is 3.5mm, although they are sometimes informally called 1/8 inch. But 1/8 inch is actually closer to 3.18mm, so that term should definitely not be used in any kind of formal context, even if everyone knows what kind of plug you’re talking about.
The old-skool 1/4 inch ones are actually 1/4 inch, though. (True fact: 1/4 inch phone plugs were invented more than 100 years ago and are probably the oldest standard electrical connectors still made.)
---
### Author:  [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 4:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-describe-an-audio-cable-in-formal-instructions/672398/14 "2013-10-28T04:41:01Z")
Now that gay marriage is legal, surely male-male connections, that plug into a jack, are perfectly politically correct.
---
### Author:  [@Francis\_Vaughan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Francis_Vaughan)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-describe-an-audio-cable-in-formal-instructions/672398/15 "2013-10-28T06:18:46Z")
How formal is formal?
I would usually refer to these connectors as 3.5mm TRS (tip-ring-sleeve) for the stereo version, and 3.5mm TS (tip-sleeve) for the mono. And yes, male and female is pretty much the accepted denotation for the sex of connector. Plug and socket is probably as close as you will get without confusion - and luckily with 3.5mm this will be sufficiently unambiguous that it will be useful. With other connector types plug and socket remains ambiguous. XLR connectors for instance can be either sex on both cables and equipment, so the notion of what the plug is and what the socket is is confusing.
---
### Author:  [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 11:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-describe-an-audio-cable-in-formal-instructions/672398/16 "2013-10-28T11:51:29Z")
I would mention “male” and I would also put in a diagram. A formal diagram: black suit & tie for the male connector, long dress for the female receptacle.
---
### Author:  [@bob\_2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bob_2)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-describe-an-audio-cable-in-formal-instructions/672398/17 "2013-10-28T12:07:25Z")
My father, who was living in France at the time, needed the male half of a two pin electrical connector like this: [http://www.discount-electrical.co.uk/shopimages/products/normal/domestic\_wiring/MK/MK\_lcp102blk.jpg](http://www.discount-electrical.co.uk/shopimages/products/normal/domestic_wiring/MK/MK_lcp102blk.jpg)
His French was good but did not extend to technical terms, so in the quincaillerie, he struggled a bit. Femme/homme? Non. M’sieur/Madame? Non. Turned out they use male/female (pronounced with a French accent of course.)
---
### Author:  [@tullsterx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tullsterx)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-describe-an-audio-cable-in-formal-instructions/672398/18 "2013-10-28T20:54:28Z")
> [@CoastalMaineiac](#):
>
> One of the components needed for a set of instructions I’m working on is 1/8-inch **male-to-male** audio cable. The ends of a cable are called male or female for exactly the reasons you think they are; the male end is meant to be inserted into a receptacle. The receptacle is female. So a male-to-male cable means both ends plug into a jack.
>
> I’m trying to be a little more politically correct. Any suggestions?
No, use the term “male” unless you want to confuse nearly every one of your readers. “Male” and “Female” are absolutely the standard English terms when it comes to audio cables.
---
### Author:  [@Heracles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heracles)
#### Post date: [October 28, 2013, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/best-way-to-describe-an-audio-cable-in-formal-instructions/672398/19 "2013-10-28T22:20:18Z")
> [@bob\_2](#):
>
> (…)
> Turned out they use male/female (pronounced with a French accent of course.)
The terms are _mâle_ and _femelle_.
These are valid French words, but they’re not used quite the same way as their English counterparts. In normal use, it would be very vulgar to use them to refer to a human being. They’re only good for non-human animals, plants and electrical or mechanical connections. Oh, and genitalia, in clinical parlance.