Talk:e-mail

Countability

(From Talk:email Jun-Dai 20:57, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC))

Is this countable? Can you receive two emails?

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(countable; also email message) A message sent by this system. I am searching through my emails.

Second definition under nouns, hun.

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I think "email" as in "mail" / "electronic letters" etc has both countable and uncountable uses. Both "I looked through my old emails" and "I looked through my old email" are used. Personally I use only the latter. In fact the word's ancestor, "mail" can only be used uncountably. "I looked through my mails" sound utterly wrong.

Now both "mail" and "email" would have an uncountable, though I prefer to think of them as "absolute" sense as in "(e)mail system": "I received something by (e)mail". — 203.222.154.2 06:29, 14 Jan 2005 (UTC)

Email vs. E-mail

• <Jun-Dai 17:28, 9 Jun 2005 (UTC)>

    As is the case with many of the heated discussions here, the issue of email vs. e-mail gets at the heart of what the Wiktionary is supposed to be. Email is clearly the commoner form of the two, though not by an especially large margin, I'd wager. On the other hand, I've only ever seen e-mail prescribed or required. Should commonness be our sole or main criterion for determining which of a pair of words should be the main entry, or would it be prudent to also include some concept of acceptability?

    In any case, even if we do stick with email, we ought to have a usage comment indicating that the form is prescribed against or unacceptable in certain contexts.

    More importantly, we should have some basis for whichever decision we go for. Dictionaries, print publications, etc. To begin with:

  • m-w.com: e-mail only (email brings up a "not in dictionary" page.
  • dictionary.com: e-mail and email (e-mail first)
  • The New Yorker: uses only e-mail
  • The Chicago Manual of Style: uses only e-mail

    As much as I'd like to move this article to e-mail, I'll only do it if no one responds, or if I get a favorable response.

  </Jun-Dai>

Adjective

<Jun-Dai 20:54, 14 Jun 2005 (UTC)>

I'm pretty sure this was a joke:

===Adjective===
'''email'''

====Proununciation====
*[[IPA]]: /eɪˈmaɪ/
*[[SAMPA]]: /<tt>eI"maI</tt>/

#A moderate bluish-green to greenish-blue.
#:''I don't believe that email skirt suits you.''

I removed it. It was contributed by an IP user, and I can find no reference to it in a dictionary (granted, it is hard to search for). Please reinstate if you feel this was removed in error.</Jun-Dai>

It was not a joke, but this word is rather uncommon. It comes from French "émail" = "enamel" (which is often greenish-blue colored). Florent Garet

Email is also German for enamel. —Stephen 13:18, 26 March 2008 (UTC)

comparison

http://googlefight.com/index.php?lang=en_GB&word1=e-mail&word2=email (keep in mind that Google includes all email results in searches on e-mail)

To search Google for "e-mail" and not "email" you can search for "e mail". — Hippietrail 07:27, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC) (self-proclaimed Googling expert)

<Jun-Dai 07:35, 15 Jun 2005 (UTC)> Interesting. In any case, given that Google is not reliable in any matters of precision, it seems that both spellings are in the same scale of popularity--in the hundreds of millions of g-hits. </Jun-Dai>

Can it be an adjective?

In phrases like "e-mail message" or "e-mail address", isn't "e-mail" an adjective? --98.203.241.55 19:03, 7 March 2013 (UTC)

It’s a noun used as part of a compound. You can’t say “this message is e-mail” or “the most e-mail message.” — Ungoliant ^(Falai) 19:04, 6 March 2013 (UTC)

Oh, like a basketball court. Okay, thanks! --98.203.241.55 19:03, 7 March 2013 (UTC)