Date: Tue, 16 Jan 1996 07:47:36 -0700

From: Bruce Gelder bgelder[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]CAMEL.SIM.ES.COM

Subject: an E-mail



Some time ago we had a thread going about "an E-mail" vs. constructions like

"an E-mail message." At the time I swore I'd never heard "an E-mail" used

by itself, but since then I've heard it countless times. Since I haven't

maintained any data on the usage of the expression, either before or

since, I can't know for sure whether a) I'm noticing it because I'm more

aware of it now, or b) the usage is actually becoming more prevalent

in my speech community (I now hear "an E-mail" many times for every time

I hear "an E-mail message").



However, I have noticed one thing about it that seems interesting to me: from

what I've observed informally, those who use "an E-mail message" or a similar

construction tend to be heavily involved with computers either in their

employment or through surfing the net, and those who use "an E-mail" tend

to be either computer outsiders or very casual users only.



Has anyone else noticed a similar distribution?



Bruce Gelder

(bgelder[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]es.com)