Attention has been focused on the replacement of ‘male’ words with a generic meaning by neutral items – chairman, for example, becoming chair or chairperson (though not without controversy) or salesman becoming sales assistant. In certain cases, such as job descriptions, the use of sexually neutral language has become a legal requirement. There is continuing debate between extremists and moderates as to how far such revisions should go – whether they should affect traditional idioms such as man in the street¹ and Neanderthal Man², or apply to parts of words where the male meaning of man is no longer dominant, such as manhandle³ and woman. The vocabulary of marital status has also been affected, notably in the introduction of Ms as a neutral alternative to Miss or Mrs.