Can you spell e-mail?

[JeffK]

I wa slightly amused to discover that the word email, spelt without the hyphen, is not in The Bat!'s spellchecker.

Jeff

[Jibz]

I giggle every time I spellcheck something with UltraEdit and find 'UltraEdit' is not in their dictionary .

[zridling]

Both are acceptable, although I prefer email because it's simpler to write, and we all know its meaning.

[Scott]

I use "eeemale", just to be different.

[JeffK]

Thanks for that, Ssscortt

[mitzevo]

You don't have to be formal with much things these days (including 2005 days..)..  Only an ultra geek cares if e-mail is wrong or not.. 

[Deozaan]

Only an ultra geek cares if e-mail is wrong or not.. 

I guess I'm an ultra geek. I always spell it "e-mail." But I don't get angry at people or insist they use the hyphen when they leave it off.

And actually it doesn't really have much to do with me being a geek. I just like language and words and so I try my best to use them properly. This includes correct spelling and proper grammar. It's a personal standard I have for myself that I don't expect other people to care enough to make it their personal standard.

[tsaint]

Wouldn't you leave the hyphen out, rather than off in this case?
Sorry ... I'm in a silly, "holidays coming" mood this morning
tony

I guess I'm an ultra geek. I always spell it "e-mail." But I don't get angry at people or insist they use the hyphen when they leave it off.

[Deozaan]

Wouldn't you leave the hyphen out, rather than off in this case?
Sorry ... I'm in a silly, "holidays coming" mood this morning
tony

I guess I'm an ultra geek. I always spell it "e-mail." But I don't get angry at people or insist they use the hyphen when they leave it off.

Ha! Yeah. So much for proper grammar!  I never claimed I was perfect at it. Just that I do my best. 

[tsaint]

I was being a drongo Deozaan - I apologize

[Deozaan]

I was being a drongo Deozaan - I apologize

Thank you, but there is no need to apologize. I figure that if I can't laugh at myself then I'm in denial. Or something. 

[nudone]

i admire anyone that can follow the rules of english grammar. i'm pretty terrible at it myself - like most UK residents under a certain age.

but, as i understand it, isn't the english language constantly evolving and adapting, i.e. 'electronic mail' becomes 'e-mail' becomes 'email' (or, at least, will become email eventually). why not just jump on the 'email' wagon and speed up its final total acceptance?

to be honest, i'm just too lazy to type 'e-mail' (as you can see i'm too lazy to use the shift key at the beginning of a sentence) otherwise i'd probably never type 'email'.

my overall excuse for being bad with english grammar is that after reading a few books on the subject and becoming confused by the conflicting opinions of the different authors i just gave up trying.

overall, the great thing about the english language is that even when its rules are (frequently) abused, it's still quite easy to understand.

one more point about the word 'email' - i assume that eventually the word will simply become 'mail' with the 'e' disregarded as superfluous. electronic mail will be the norm and maybe 'snail-mail' will become 's-mail' or 'p-mail' (p for post or parcel).

(sorry about all that. as you can see i live in the future more than in the present.)

[Eóin]

“If you take hyphens seriously, you will surely go mad” - Oxford University Press style manual