Hello Pam. Over here in the UK we call the actual plug a jack plug, and the socket is a jack socket. We still use the terms male and female for some connections, however. I remember when I was in my teens, I went to a hi-fi shop in Shrewsbury. One of the attendants was talking to me about male and female connections, and he proceeded to explain the facts of life to me, so to speak, in case I didn't know. Peter