Date:  Thu, 10 Aug 1995 19:01:38 CDT

From:  "Donald M. Lance" <ENGDL[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]MIZZOU1.MISSOURI.EDU>

Subject: Counting e-mails



I observed today bipartisan support for the use of 'e-mail' as a count

noun to refer to instances of sending a memo/letter/message electronically.



I watched as much of the House Whitewater hearing as I could stand this

afternoon -- congressmen harassing/harrasing witnesses on the basis of

which side of the House the testimony seemed to help.



Bob Barr, R-Georgia,was grilling April Breslaw, an atty who works for

the Resolution Trust Corporation, and he inquired about "an e-mail" that

she had received or sent, adding that people do "a lot of e-mails that they

later wish they hadn't sent." Atty Breslaw also used 'e-mail' in the singular

and plural. Barr called some of them memos.



On th evening news I saw a clip of Barbara Boxer, D-California, quizzing

Nussbaum. She asked "Did Mrs. Clinton send an e-mail to you?"



As for Ms Breslaw, her party preference was rather unclear. In one of

those e-mails that she later regretted (in Barr's opinion) she referred to

"crazy" politicians, a reference to having been blind-sided by Rep.

Leach, R-Iowa, when he quoted (conveniently (de-)contextualized) remarks

that another investigator had recorded surreptitiously while maneuvering

Ms Breslaw through a maze of personnel in some office. Barr, also, however,

pointed out that she had e-mailed something unkind about Rep. Gonzalez,

D-Texas. Boy, did I ever get an education -- surf right over C-SPAN. DMLance