"e-mail"...count or uncount?

[Chris]

@Dragonbones

Right now, email/e-mail is in the two variant stage, but the trend appears to be toward the monosomatic email, due to inherent human laziness, and the clarity and simplicity of the “email” version.

In business correspondence, “e-mail” seems to be preferred (as is “Web site”), whereas in informal online communication "email (and “website”) seems to be the de facto standard.

As for whether it’s countable or uncoutable, I would say both.

“I received a flood of e-mail from that company last month.”
“I received three e-mails from her yesterday.”

[irishstu]

Can we talk about the word “text” (as in what you send/receive on your phone) now? :s

[rooftop]

[quote=“Stray Dog”]
E-mail should not be made into one word, IMO. Then it would say ‘uhmayl’, as an ‘e’ is sounded ‘uh’ when placed at the beginning of words. [/quote]

Even my evil egret evinces egregious exceptions eventually.

E can sound like “ee” at the beginning of a word. Go save some animals, would ya?

[Richardm]

[quote=“Chris”]
In business correspondence, “e-mail” seems to be preferred (as is “Web site”), whereas in informal online communication "email (and “website”) seems to be the de facto standard.

As for whether it’s countable or uncoutable, I would say both.

“I received a flood of e-mail from that company last month.”
“I received three e-mails from her yesterday.”[/quote]

@American Heritage 4th ed.

Usage Note: The transition from World Wide Web site to Web site to website seems to have progressed as rapidly as the technology itself. The development of website as a single uncapitalized word mirrors the development of other technological expressions which have tended to evolve into unhyphenated forms as they become more familiar. Thus email has recently been gaining ground over the forms E-mail and e-mail, especially in texts that are more technologically oriented. Similarly, there has been an increasing preference for closed forms like homepage, online, and printout.

English is allways changing. Soon it will b cool 2 write like dis.

[Juba]

I’m with stray dog 100% on the hyphen. Email without the hyphen is that turquoise-like colour and it’s pronounced as in French, in which language it means “enamel”: “M-eye”.

I agree that e-mail is both a countable and uncountable noun. Some might say that it should be “some e-mail” but “an e-mail message”. Even I am not that much of a stickler.

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More discussion on the same topic

[Juba]

Delete me.

[Woodchild]

According to Collins Concise Dictionary (2001)

[quote]E-mail, e-mail, or email
n 1 short for electronic mail.
vb (tr) 2 to contact (a person) by electronic mail.
3 to send (a message, document, etc.) by electronic mail.[/quote]

So email has been accepted by the dictionary as a correct form of the word and it can also be used as a verb.

The dictionary doesn’t mention whether it is un/countable as a noun though.

[quote=“rooftop”][quote=“Stray Dog”]
E-mail should not be made into one word, IMO. Then it would say ‘uhmayl’, as an ‘e’ is sounded ‘uh’ when placed at the beginning of words. [/quote]

Even my evil egret evinces egregious exceptions eventually.

E can sound like “ee” at the beginning of a word. [/quote]

Some other words started with e as a long e sound:

evening, equal, equinox, Egypt, Eden, Esau

[Stray_Dog]

I remain defiant. :raspberry:

[Dragonbones]

Methinks you all have too much time on your hands.