# Does anyone else find the noun "coed" patronizing? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [October 17, 2007, 10:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-the-noun-coed-patronizing/423102 "2007-10-17T22:24:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-the-noun-coed-patronizing/423102/21 "2007-10-18T12:17:14Z")
Better take it up with **Cat Fight** , I should say, although I imagine she would have been the first to object to the word if she saw it as in the least patronising to women. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-the-noun-coed-patronizing/423102/22 "2007-10-18T12:23:38Z")
[QUOTE=Liberal] We stopped using that term after our first ovester. [/QUOTE] What’s an “ovester”? (“Semester” is a word that comes from pretty much the same source as “trimester”: the “mester” there is actually cognate with “menses”, so it has no masculine connotation at all!) ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-the-noun-coed-patronizing/423102/23 "2007-10-18T12:37:19Z")
[QUOTE=Gary T] Its origins stem from when women in college were a rarity, so that aspect of it is out of date. However, it does not have any intrinsic derogatory meaning, any more than “woman” does because it originated from the notion of “wife to a man.” [/QUOTE] I’d consider that derogatory, as well, except that “man” originally meant “person” and “wifman” meant [female person](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Woman#Etymology). ---
**Author:** ![KneadToKnow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kneadtoknow/32/3999_2.png) [@KneadToKnow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KneadToKnow)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 1:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-the-noun-coed-patronizing/423102/24 "2007-10-18T13:25:50Z")
[QUOTE=Giles] What’s an “ovester”? [/QUOTE] I took a class on Asian art herstory during my first ovester. ---
**Author:** ![Giles](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/giles/32/60_2.png) [@Giles](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Giles)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-the-noun-coed-patronizing/423102/25 "2007-10-18T13:32:18Z")
[QUOTE=KneadToKnow] I took a class on Asian art herstory during my first ovester. [/QUOTE] Of course, a lot of these feminist language reformers have not studied any Latin or Greek. If they had, then they would reform such genuinely sexist words as “hysteria”. (Do men suffer from testeria?) ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-the-noun-coed-patronizing/423102/26 "2007-10-18T14:06:56Z")
[QUOTE=Giles] What’s an “ovester”? (“Semester” is a word that comes from pretty much the same source as “trimester”: the “mester” there is actually cognate with “menses”, so it has no masculine connotation at all!) [/QUOTE] Reference from _Legally Blonde_. ---
**Author:** ![Nava](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/da6949/32.png) [@Nava](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nava)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 2:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-the-noun-coed-patronizing/423102/27 "2007-10-18T14:15:11Z")
That usage always requires me to think about what the heck they’re saying. To me it’s schools that are co-ed, not people. And nowadays single-gender institutions are so much rarer that I’d only use it to speak about things like “my school used to be girls-only but went coed when I was in 3rd grade;” I don’t expect a school to tout its “co-ed-ness.” ---
**Author:** ![Sarahfeena](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sarahfeena/32/519_2.png) [@Sarahfeena](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sarahfeena)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-the-noun-coed-patronizing/423102/28 "2007-10-18T14:40:14Z")
[QUOTE=Green Bean] Perhaps…but that underscores why it’s patronizing. A male student in the 1950s walking across the Rutgers quad would be a “student.” A female doing the same would be called a “coed.” He’s a student. She’s a novelty. [/QUOTE] Exactly. I’m amazed that anyone would use the term these days, such as in the OP’s linked thread title. Considering more women than ment go to college these days, I would think we could put the term to rest. I do find it rather insulting. ---
**Author:** ![Dumbguy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/2bfe46/32.png) [@Dumbguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dumbguy)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-the-noun-coed-patronizing/423102/29 "2007-10-18T22:14:33Z")
Gender and race no longer exist. Any reference to these anachronistic constructs displeases the hivemind. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 10:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-the-noun-coed-patronizing/423102/30 "2007-10-18T22:46:09Z")
[QUOTE=Giles] …(Do men suffer from testeria?) [/QUOTE] It seems to me that they do. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Lemur866](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lemur866/32/434_2.png) [@Lemur866](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lemur866)\ **Post date:** [October 18, 2007, 10:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-the-noun-coed-patronizing/423102/31 "2007-10-18T22:49:30Z")
[QUOTE=Giles] Of course, a lot of these feminist language reformers have not studied any Latin or Greek. If they had, then they would reform such genuinely sexist words as “hysteria”. (Do men suffer from testeria?) [/QUOTE] This is more popularly known as “testosterone poisoning”. And I’ve seen plenty of feminist critiques of “hysteria” and “hysterical”. Although I couldn’t testify to exactly where. ---
**Author:** ![Terrifel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c68b51/32.png) [@Terrifel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Terrifel)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-the-noun-coed-patronizing/423102/32 "2007-10-19T04:02:52Z")
[QUOTE=Giles] (Do men suffer from testeria?) [/QUOTE] Every day!!! Sometimes maybe even two or three times. Fortunately I’m ambidextrous. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 10:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-the-noun-coed-patronizing/423102/33 "2007-10-19T10:32:26Z")
[QUOTE=Sal Ammoniac] “Coed” still has a valid use to mean “both men and women.” I can’t think of any other word that remotely fits – “bisexual,” maybe? For an example of the use I’m talking about, see [here](http://www.bssc.com/index.cfm?category=2). Of course, on edit, I notice the OP said “the noun ‘coed.’” I will slink away unnoticed. [/QUOTE] In Spanish they say “unisex” as an adjective. ---
**Author:** ![Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/4da419/32.png) [@Gala\_Matrix\_Fire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gala_Matrix_Fire)\ **Post date:** [October 19, 2007, 11:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-the-noun-coed-patronizing/423102/34 "2007-10-19T11:16:19Z")
[QUOTE=Lemur866] This is more popularly known as “testosterone poisoning”. And I’ve seen plenty of feminist critiques of “hysteria” and “hysterical”. Although I couldn’t testify to exactly where. [/QUOTE] Maybe from me? I get bristly about the term being used to describe women who are rightly indignant or angry. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/does-anyone-else-find-the-noun-coed-patronizing/423102.md?page=1)