A great deal of work has been done on the "ugly names" for women. Researchers have pointed out that in English there are many more negative terms for women than for men-a quick look in a thesaurus will confirm that-and that negative terms, which almost always carry sexual connota­ tions, reflect the status of women in Western society, that is, as identified in terms of the men they relate to (Lakoff 1975). These terms have probably been in common use since the advent of Modem English and show up most recently in several slang surveys conducted in California in the past several years. Although there does not seem to be much change in the "ugly names" men have for women, there are some interesting developments in the terms that women use for women.