Date:    Wed, 17 Jun 1998 09:23:51 +0000
<br>From:    Peter McGraw <pmcgraw[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]LINFIELD.EDU>
<br>Subject: Re: e-mail/paper mail
<br>
<br>On Wed, 17 Jun 1998 12:08:30 -0400 Bob Haas <rahaas[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]HAMLET.UNCG.EDU>
<br>wrote:
<br>
<br>> I've heard "snail mail" for so long that I believed that it was
<br>comman parlance for hard copy.   BTW, in keeping with that metaphor,
<br>did anyone suggest "hard mail?"  And the plural of "e-mail" is simply
<br>"e-mail," is it not?
<br>>
<br>
<br>I'd say "e-mail" is either singular or collective, but not plural.  It
<br>seems perfectly natural to say, "He sent me three e-mails yesterday."
<br>
<br>BTW, there was a discussion awhile (a couple of years?) ago on this
<br>list prompted, as I remember, by a New York Times solicitation of
<br>opinion as to the grammar of the singular of the term.  The question,
<br>as I recall, boiled down to, "Does one say 'AN e-mail'?"  I was one who
<br>piped up and said that seemed unnatural to me and that I would tend
<br>to say "an e-mail MESSAGE."  I'm sure others said the same, though I
<br>don't remember how many did or how many found "an e-mail" acceptable.
<br>
<br>Whenever that was, the medium was still that much newer, and my sense
<br>is that "an e-mail" has become well established in the meantime. I
<br>personally use "an e-mail" probably several times a day.  Is there
<br>anyone out there who would still find it unnatural?
<br>
<br>Peter
<br>
<br>----------------------
<br>Peter A. McGraw
<br>Linfield College
<br>McMinnville, Oregon
<br>pmcgraw[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]linfield.edu
<br>