Is This A Strictly American

Is this a strictly American alternative for 'female student' ?

It was probably strictly American in its day, but its day is gone. That sense, referring to a person, was one of the many things lost without regret in the Great Feminist Revolution of the 1970s.

The word is still used for such things as "coed dormitory," a dormitory that houses both sexes.

Best wishes Donna Richoux
An American living in the Netherlands

Is this a strictly American alternative for 'female student' ? What do, say, Australians use ?

The term has never been used in Australia. Why is there a need to have a special term for "female student" at all? Like actress and usherette, it is anachronistic.
Additinally, it has always struck me as a very strange usage. Why is the girl the co-ed when the whole point of the word is that both sexes are present?

Is this a strictly American alternative for 'female student' ?

1. Yes, it is a strictly American usage.
2. It is also odd because its meaning changed (a centuryago) when colleges changed. Early 19th century colleges were segregated by sex. Only after midcentury did traditionally all-male colleges admit women students, i.e. become coeducational. But the word coed was rapidly transferred from the institution (emphasizing that both sexes studied) to the individual (and denoting exclusively women.)

Don Phillipson
Carlsbad Springs
(Ottawa, Canada)

The word is still used for such things as "coed dormitory," a dormitory that houses both sexes.

"The goal of 'Girls Gone Wild' is to capture the spontaneity of college coeds having fun on Spring Break and other times of leisure." - The producer said.

Is this a strictly American alternative for 'female student' ? What do, say, Australians use ?

The term has never been used in Australia. Why is there a need to have a special term for "female ... usage. Why is the girl the co-ed when the whole point of the word is that both sexes are present?

Possibly it started at a previously all-male institution?
dg (domain=ccwebster)

The word is still used for such things as "coed dormitory," a dormitory that houses both sexes.

"The goal of 'Girls Gone Wild' is to capture the spontaneity of college coeds having fun on Spring Break and other times of leisure." - The producer said.

Consider the likely average age of the purchasers of his videos. He may have chosen to speak to them in terms they can understand.

Liebs

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}> >The word is still used for such things as "coed dormitory," a dormitory }> >that houses both sexes.
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}> "The goal of 'Girls Gone Wild' is to capture the spontaneity of }> college coeds having fun on Spring Break and other times of leisure." }> - The producer said.
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} Consider the likely average age of the purchasers of his videos. He } may have chosen to speak to them in terms they can understand.

Yeah, like "Mardi gras".

R. J. Valentine
Today I drove past a sign for the George Bush Center for Intelligence.

Is this a strictly American alternative for 'female student' ?

It was probably strictly American in its day, but its day is gone. That sense, referring to a person, was ... of the 1970s. The word is still used for such things as "coed dormitory," a dormitory that houses both sexes.

I was Googling for an old song (that I couldn't remember the title to, just a few words) to find out how antiquated the word is and one of the hits shows that the "traditional" usage hasn't quite been abandoned. An article dated October 30, 2002:
"A year later, police still seek clues to coed's disappearance" http://www.post-gazette.com/localnews/20021030songp5.asp

Nell