E-mail or Email?

Regarding:

He oft cited Churchill's famous (if apocryphal) line, “This is the sort of English up with which I will not put.”

This has to be the most asinine arguments that one professed to be learned in the language could suggest.

Any respectable linguist worth his salt would argue that Churchill's line (were it true) should be corrected as:

“This is the sort of English I will not tolerate.”

DUH!

Someone needs to fire or reprimand the linguistics department chair that used that nonsense line to justify his argument for using bastardized English.

oiii

It doesn't matter how you write the durn new-fangled word. The internet is just a fad like those silly pet rocks kids had in the seventies. You'll see, it won't last long.

I think "e-mail" versus "email" is far different from embracing the slang of social media and text messaging into published language. I think far too many generations of young people have been turned off by overly prescriptive English teachers who focus on regurgitating and enforcing rules of mechanics they don't themselves understand. We should instead focus on more important matters such as cleaning up gobbledygook by promoting more efficient and effective written language.

The Brits are ahead of us when it comes to eliminating unnecessary punctuation. If most readers will recognize a hyphenated compound without the hyphen, close it up. If an abbreviation is widely recognizable without a period, eliminate the period.

dfgdafhadfh

The grammatically correct spelling, as earlier mentioned , is "e-mail". I try to steer away from the lazy "kid speak" of today.

Reason: We can learn a lot from kids. But, in general, WE are teaching THEM the basics, and not the other way around.

Lately, I have seen people spell probably as "prolly", definitely as "deffly", and rediculous as "redic". I am only 39 years old, and it makes my blood boil to see laziness to that degree.

But to segue back to the topic, using the last paragraph as a basis for the truth in moving forward, I would like to cite, and go with the earlier post by "Dan". We dropped "color" from "color tv". I see no issue with dropping the "e-" from e-mail, all together, since it is quickly becoming the dominant form of mail.

This argument is really between the schools of "grammarians" and "linguists". I once managed an IT department at a university where our Linguistics department chair always argued for "common usage" as being correct. I always argued back that this dumbed down our language even more than it already was. I never heard him say "perogative" instead of "prerogative" or use "your" when he meant "you're".

He agreed on things like that but countered with the position that we shouldn't be over-legalistic on sentence structures such as worrying about ending a sentence with a preposition.

Where a grammarian might say "with which school of thought should I adhere?" A grammarian will argue it's okay to say, "which school of thought should I adhere to?"

He oft cited Churchill's famous (if apocryphal) line, “This is the sort of English up with which I will not put.”

Nevertheless, he maintained that bad spelling and incorrect word usage should always be avoided.

Personally, I'm of the mind that it should never be "email" until we drop hyphens from all other words as previously mentioned (T-shirt, x-ray, etc.).

I actually like eMail since it fits with "eCommerce", eBook, iMac, iPhone, and other nods to hDropping by capitalizing the post-hyphen word.

On 4-26-12, jet asked: "Does anal retentive have a hyphen?"

Answer: Yes. When it is used not as a noun, but as a compound adjective, as in "anal-retentive student." ;)

It doesn't change the fact that "e-mail" is more grammatically correct. It merely proves that the AP, and Mashable, are utterly lazy.

"E-mail" is a compound word and thus needs punctuation. Otherwise, we might as well do away with the apost as well.

There're plenty of things that become "commonly used" which are incorrect. "Irregardless" comes to mind.

my blog article on this topic, 'e-mail not email':

http://rozynskijournal.blogspot.com.ar/search?q=e-mail

This topic brought up another question for me. Which is the correct spelling: username or user name? Any comments would be appreciated.

s

What about all the other E for "electronic" references like e-statements and e-ddress (which I just ran across)? Hyphen or no hyphen?

love you joyce big love

I thought it was eMail?

Languages are living, dynamic entities. If a person is able to communicate and be understood, that counts in my book as correct. So if someone wants to ask "where you at" and is understood by his peers 95%, then that counts as good language to me. Doesn't mean I'd put it in an academic paper.

Folks are funny. For hundreds of years, new words have begun their lives in the English language as a compound word. Then they get a hyphen. Then after more time, the hyphen disappears. Bellboy, wildlife and bedchamber are some examples. If you folks that are all up in arms about email vs. e-mail, please revert to using bell-boy, wild-life, wild-fire, back-ward, skate-board or every other compound word which may have once been hyphenated. Jeez :P

Logic 101: The fact most people do something doesn't make it right. Deciding to go along with something because "it's on the Internet," "everyone's doing it" and "people think it looks better" is to be sucked in by the fallacy of the call to popular opinion.
Someone, please present a logic-based argument in favour of dropping the hyphen from e-mail. There are sound, unassailable reasons for retaining it (most of them presented here already), but so far only illogical fluff from fuzzy thinkers for losing it. Anyone?

I won't be sending anyone an 'email' no matter what their eaddress is.

--
Mike.

Waaay back in 1999 (of party fame), Wired changed from e-mail to email. Sometime later, maybe a year or so, they backpedaled, reverting to e-mail. Seems they felt too cold and lonely out on point. Now folks are catching up. Personally, email is easier to type and I don't need reminding what the "e" stands for.

hhhaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii

..i want to learn and talk to english girl

The inconsistencies in English language spelling conventions have long served as cause for humorists and social commentators. How did we get such inconsistencies? Because American English eschews laws and constraints. Email will simply take its place alongside "fone", "[yo]u", "check", and "gas" -- no matter what the authorities determine.

In my last "email" to my friend, I wrote about the "tshirt" I bought at the store. I also expressed my concerns about Iran trying to build the "hbomb." He mentioned how his favorite restaurant makes great "tbone" steaks. But he needed an "xray" after he actually swallowed a bone. I further expressed my concerns about skimpy bikinis relying on only a "gstring" to hold up the bottom. Also, the Federal Reserve Board's approach to "tbills" and "tbonds" came up for discussion. Finally, we remembered the days when Eliot Ness and other "gmen" would always "save the day."

If an alien landed in our country and wanted to learn how to speak the language, it would find a phonics book and learn that "e + consonant" at the start of a word will almost always be pronounced as a "short e." In other words, the phonetic rules of English say that "email" is to be pronounced "ehmail." There are only a half dozen or so words that are exceptions to this rule.

Thus, both precedent and phonics would lead us to keep "e-mail" as the norm.

Many hyphens disappear over time, and many compounds become closed. Personally, I don't think that time has come yet for e-mail. If nothing else, it's a stumbling block for pronunciation to remove the hyphen.

And Darrell Young is quite wrong...The Chicago Manual of Style still recommends e-mail.

As someone once asked, "Does anal retentive have a hyphen?"

Legendary computer scientist and author Donald Knuth might be thrilled that his recommendation from 1990 is being more widely implemented. http://www-cs-faculty.stanford.edu/~uno/email.html

Was just on the ap website. Apparently the website copy editor didn't get the memo. In the bottom right hand corner of their homepage, you can sign up for their "E-mail" list.

I disagree with most of these comments and I believe common usage IS the ultimate trump card.

It's not a "kid's issue". When the vast majority are using the spelling including those in academia as well as those many tech fathers who contributed to the invention of it, it's time to throw in the towel. You can't own the english language. The beauty of it is based on our collective cultural sensibility. It's very much art as it is science.

I personally think that "e-mail" looks more professional. "Email" looks sloppy. Besides, the "e" in e-mail stands for "electronic." It's not like it's just an unnecessary letter.

It's ridiculous for them to offer "bowing to common usage" as their only explanation for this change. That's what Urban Dictionary is for, not an official language authority.

In response to Oprah's language faux pas. That was purposeful misuse of the English language. Oprah knows correct English, but she often filters her responses through an alter ego, sort of an Aunt Jemima character. She's just fooling around. Her large and diverse audience 'gets' her bawdy character shifts.

Grammar Girl please help Oprah W.
During an interview that aired on Oprah W program interviewing Sarah Ferguson, the Duchess of York Oprah asked; “How can you afford such an expensive house if you don’t have no money?”
Yes that is a word for word quote. You may check the program transcript.
Sincerely John

Tony said, "As an instructor in Freshman Composition and Research, I find it refreshing that someone finally took up the gauntlet on this one and has given what will, for myself and my students, be a definitive answer."

The Chicago Manual of Style has long taken "up the gauntlet" on not using unnecessary hypens. "E-Mail" has long been "email" to CMOS users.

i love you girl

I love all my friends and miss u

As an instructor in Freshman Composition and Research, I find it refreshing that someone finally took up the gauntlet on this one and has given what will, for myself and my students, be a definitive answer. My thanks. Oh, btw...The Grammar Devotional is one of those little books that should be on the desk of every instructor or person who has an interest in writing well. Thanks for your contribution to the not so common language.

I think eventually the "e" should disappear entirely, as did the "color" of "color TV." Today, I prefer to use the hyphen in my own writing, as it connects to the original source of the term ("e" for "electronic").

(I know an editor who likes to point out that "email" is French for "enamel," but I can't imagine that this fact ever has been the source of any ambiguity.)

Style is not the only consideration. Logic and consistency are also in play here. As that preternaturally gifted copy editor Bill Walsh has written, "[t]he problem with 'e-mail' is that it's not a simple compound noun. It's an initial-letter-based abbreviation, and no initial-letter-based abbreviation in the history of the English language has ever morphed into a solid word." Exempli gratia: A-frame, T-shirt, x-ray, etc. It hardly makes sense to pick only one of these (e-mail) from which to drop the hyphen. There are numerous other reasons to keep the hyphen, but I believe this may be the most compelling.

The English language is chock-full of words that when new were hyphenated, then deleted the hyphen as the word became common. Email is just the latest example.

What's the word on "website"? The "Web site" seems to have gone the way of the dodo also.

OK , O.K., O-Kay, I think enaough on the matter

When I was teaching Business English (grammar, that is) as recently as maybe 10 years ago, it was "E-mail." Then the hyphen was dropped, and when I contacted the author of the text I'd been using, she predicted it wouldn't be long before the hyphen also would be eliminated.

BTW - I think that the arguments used by the readers here in support of dropping the hyphen are much sounder than those put forth my the AP.

"Clarity and consistency" is much less whiny than "It's too hard to police".

No hyphen

I like hyphens for "e-mail" because when you are reading, you know it isn't a word starting with "em." When I worked for a newspaper, we always used the AP guide. I wish they wouldn't keep changing.

I am so annoyed by the tendency to go with "whatever the kids are doing these days".

If there is a legitimate reason for a grammar rule, then there should be consistency. We should not cave and say that a usage is proper just because so many people are doing it. Whenever I used that logic, my mother used to ask me whether I'd jump off the Empire State building if the other kids in my class had done it.

I heard someone argue the other day that they no longer want to see an apostrophe in the word "its" regardless of whether it is a possessive. Why? Because it is annoying to try and remember to when to use it. It sounds like the same logic was used here. Bravo to the Time for standing their ground - for now.

I'm a hyphen lover, but I've always preferred "email" to "e-mail" as it looks and reads cleaner. But I agree with Tricia - consistency justifies whatever choice you make.

If you are unsure or undecided about which option to use, at least be unsure consistently. Choose one and use it with confidence!

There is no single God-like authority on this kind of thing, but as long as you use a source that is authoritative and appropriate to your field/target readership (for general usage a large dictionary may be more objective than a single publication's in-house style guide), keep in touch with developments over time (eg the growing tendency e-mail > email) and use the same form within the same piece of writing, then I think you will be on pretty safe ground.

I think this will eventually settle nicely into the standard AP position of clarity regarding prefixes: most "e" words will lose the hyphen, but words that start with a vowel or could be confused with an existing word will keep it.

I was taught to eliminate hyphens whenever doing so will not cause confusion. That applies in this case.

Yes, and I'd like to know if e-book is now ebook... I find I'm having to use both if I'm posting on a platform where people will be searching on the term, and it's starting to get wearisome.

The Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications, Third Edition says that you must always hyphenate e-mail.

My friends who are professional internet nerds have been saying for a long time that the hyphen is unnecessary, and this very website uses the unhyphenated form in every instance I can find. "Email" is a word that belongs to the internet; it is only fitting to let the internet dictate its spelling.

bow to common usage? I guess that means that it's finally ok for people to excape and ask 'Where are you at right now?" Argh!

i want to learn more