We've noticed a slightly odd phenomenon in the events for women at the 2010 Olympic Winter Games, namely that no one can seem to agree on what to call them: Girls? Women? Ladies? 

You can see it for your self as you peruse the Olympic schedule. Today, Olympic fans will be watching ladies' super combined downhill races, followed by women's round robin curling. Later on, ladies will compete in the halfpipe semi-finals, and women's skeleton.

What gives? We've been asking around and have yet to get an official answer, but there are several working theories proffered by those in the Olympic know. 

Says Anita Tedder, co-author of A Proper Spectacle, Women Olympians 1900-1936:

"Our research into the Summer Games reveals that it's still  a sexist old world and it's probable that the answers remain the same now as they have always been. The governing bodies are probably mainly predominantly still run by men who would not understand or appreciate the difference between 'ladies' and 'women'. They would view calling women 'ladies' as a compliment and would not understand what the fuss is about. To us, it's quite extraordinary and shows there's still lots of work to be done in confronting gender issues and language, in particular. They would probably look quite blank if you were to ask why it's Men's Downhill and not Gentleman's. That's our guess."