It's time for Americans to Stop Saying "Coed"

francisco_osorio / Foter / CC BY

Upon moving to America I started noticing that both formally and informally women were being referred to as "coeds".  I did not have a faintest idea why. 

I looked it up and it is defined as "A female student at a coeducational institution" and dates from before 1878.  Which makes some kind of sense because in the Victorian era this would have been a new-fangled thing worthy of (probably derogatory) comment.

But do you know what we now call females that go to tertiary institutions that do not discriminate against their gender?  Students.  We call them students. 

Their presence at an institution of higher learning that men also attend does not require explanation, justification, or comment. It is quite literally unremarkable.  Or at least it should be.