Words that annoy me more than they should: coed

Why do we need this word anymore?  Why do I still see it occasionally in news articles or plot descriptions?  i.e. “Sally was a young coed who had no idea the political intrigue that awaited her during the summer”

Co-ed is an abbreviation for Co-educational, referring to a female student going to a school with both female and male students, from the 19th century.  “Girls and boys going to school? Together? What kind of world are we living in?  Why, we must have have a special term for this most egregious exceptional event,” the blogger said sarcastically.

Shouldn’t we have a special word for all the dozens of young ladies that attend female only schools?  Wouldn’t that be a more more uncommon occurrence that necessitates extra adjectives?

So, the next time you see the word ‘coed’ in anything written written after 1950, I want you to find the author, throw the book, article, or internet at him and yell, “You wasted my time with anachronistic descriptions!  And I’m not gonna take it anymore!”