「一夜情」這些年已經成為一個司空見慣的詞語和社會現象，而且可謂是不分中外。許多人想當然地以為，「一夜情」在英語中的說法就是one night sex或者是one night love。查詢Google之後發現，輸入one night sex之後出現的排序最前面的三個頁面顯示的並非是one night sex，而是one night stand。輸入one night love之後的結果是，雖然這一說法確實能夠找到一些相關網頁，但是，類似的說法還有one night of love, one night love affair;看來對於把「一夜情」表達為one night love，這一說法並未得到廣泛的認可。相反，倒是輸入了one night stand進行檢索之後發現了大量的相關頁面，還有一位名叫張震嶽的歌手有一首歌就叫做One Night Stand。
有一些頁面對於為什麼「一夜情」叫做one night stand進行了解釋，如著名的網絡詞典維基百科的釋義是A one-night stand is originally a single night theatre performance (usually a guest group on tour), and today more commonly also a single sexual encounter between a man and a woman。上述英文釋義其實已經說的很明白了。
「百度知道」提供的解釋如下：「一夜情(One Night Stand)，顧名思義是指發生在一夜之間的情事，有的認為英語世界裡的『一夜情』One Night Stand，通常是指發生在兩個陌生人之間，短暫的親密接觸，無須了解，也無須責任。在中文世界裡，一夜情最確切的解釋應當是：一夜性。即「一夜情」是一種偶發的性行為，通常僅只一次，也可能是有限的兩三次，強調雙方均基於性慾求的特點，拒絕感情與責任，常發生在並不熟悉的人之間。 而Stand本身就有短暫的駐留，停留之意，它不需要留念也不需要感情付出。」
據說，我們現在所接受的「一夜情」的英語對應說法其實來自於 One Night Stand這部由著名影星娜塔莎•金絲基主演的片子，它講述了典型的一個一夜情的故事：因為一次商務旅行，廣告導演與有夫之婦發生了一夜情，誰知以後便越來越想念，以致自己的婚姻也岌岌可危……
當然，在中文世界裡，儘管有些「一夜情」也許並沒有性的成分，「一夜情」已經被許多人看作等同於 「一夜性」，因此便有了把「一夜情」翻譯成one night sex的說法。其實，從地道英語角度來說，「一夜情」就是one night stand或one-night stand，其複數形式就是one-night stands，下面這篇路透社的新聞報導就是一個最好的佐證，同時也可以讓我們了解英國女性對待性和婚姻問題的態度，她們其實是很謹慎很保守很忠於家庭的。
One-night stands immoral, say 9 in 10 women
By Nic Fleming, Science Correspondent
(Filed: 31/03/2006)
Samantha of Sex and the City, it is fair to say, would not approve. The casual attitude to sexual relations embraced by the most liberated of the characters in the television series turns out not to reflect the views of 21st century women quite as well as widely imagined.
Researchers investigating female attitudes to sex and their sexuality were surprised to find that most women have rather more traditional, conservative views on one-night stands than they expected.
Women expressed concerns about casual sex
Around nine out of 10 of those questioned felt casual sex was immoral and that those women who engaged in it were not doing so primarily for pleasure.
They said they felt sorry for women who hadone-night stands, that they were lacking something in their lives and if they had not simply lost control through drink and drugs they were seeking emotional rather than physical connection.
Dr Sharron Hinchcliffe, a psychologist from the University of Sheffield, presented her findings at the annual conference of the British Psychological Society in Cardiff yesterday.
Dr Hinchcliffe said: "Our results did not fit in with the image we have of today's independent woman who can go out and get sexual fulfillment without the ties of a relationship.
"There was a view that if women had one-night stands they were doing it for reasons other than their own pleasure, more out of a feeling of being desperate, needy or looking for something, or that they had lost control through drink or drugs.」
"They said they did it for reasons that were different to those of women in relationships - which they said were for pleasure and to express their love for their partner. They defined it as deviant behaviour.」
"They referred to the women as emulating male behaviour. It was certainly the view that it was not the way women should behave.」
"Some of the respondents said these things even though they admitted they had had one-night stands themselves. I was surprised at how judgmental they were.」
"It makes me question whether women have really gained all the sexual freedom they are supposed to have gained since the Sixties."
Dr Hinchcliffe and colleagues carried out in-depth interviews with 46 women selected from the electoral roll aged 23 to 83, with an average age of 48.
Around 10 per cent of the sample disagreed with the majority view of "no strings" sex as immoral. Dr Hinchcliffe said that if anything the women in their early thirties were more negative about one-night stands than those of women in their fifties.
Some of the participants also expressed concerns about women having casual sex exposing themselves to sexually transmitted disease.
A survey of 1,095 men and women carried out on behalf of Amnesty International UK and published in November found that more than a third of people believed a female rape victim was totally or partially responsible if she had behaved in a flirtatious manner with her attacker.
Dr Tuppy Owens, of the Sexual Freedom Coalition, a group that campaigns for sexual freedom between consenting adults, said: "I don't like the expression 'one-night stand'.」
"Two people just banging away at each other can be pretty meaningless and an empty experience, unless there is some passion, care and feeling towards the other person. However, if you go out wondering what might happen, ready to give as well as receive, you might have the most wonderful adventure.」
"Perhaps if they had asked the questions in a different way they would have got different answers."
Norman Wells, the director of Family and Youth Concern, said: "It shows that most women are seeking more than the fleeting gratification that temporary sexual relationships can offer.」
"Sexual intimacy was never meant to be engaged in outside the context of lifelong union between one man and one woman.」
"By divorcing sex from marriage in our thinking and in the sexual education given to children and young people, we are promoting something that runs contrary to our basic longings for stability, permanence and commitment."