Grammar of the word "E-Mail"

[EvanED]

Hmm, I may have to back off of my position somewhat:

Than is both a subordinating conjunction, as in She is wiser than I am, and a proposition, as in She is wiser than me. As a subject of the clause introduced by the conjunction then, the pronoun must be nominative, and as object of the preposition than, the following pronoun must be in the objective case. Since the following verb am is often dropped or 'understoood,' we regularly hear than I and than me. Some commentators believe that the conjunction is currently more frequent than the preposition, but both are unquestionably Standard

-Columbia Guide to Standard American English, from here

[jobriath]

It sounds like I will have to, too. Thanks for posting that quote. I wonder (but not enough to stay awake any longer) if the conclusion that both forms are standard is true in British English.

[lanicita]

The word email is not the same as the word mail. You can say "I got an email" because that's just the way that word has been traditionally used grammatically. It doesn't matter whether or not you can say "I got a mail" because that's not the word in question. Language is constructed by its users, and its users have deemed "I got an email" correct usage.

[Tractor]

The word email is not the same as the word mail. You can say "I got an email" because that's just the way that word has been traditionally used grammatically. It doesn't matter whether or not you can say "I got a mail" because that's not the word in question. Language is constructed by its users, and its users have deemed "I got an email" correct usage.

True.
Also the pluralizations matter a little here too.
If you went with "I got some email" and "I got some mail" it all works out.
If 'mail' was used in the singular sense it would be ok to 'get a mail', instead you get a letter or a bill or whatnot. Email doesn't typically have that kind of distinction.

[AnonyMouse]

Also, with traditional mail, one can say "I got a piece of mail" that distinction doesn't occur with email (can't say piece of email). I think, because of it's lack of physical form, we don't feel the need to differentiate the way we do with regular mail.

[Puellus Peregrinus]

Also, with traditional mail, one can say "I got a piece of mail" that distinction doesn't occur with email (can't say piece of email).

Yeah. It's "a bit" not "a piece".

[Weasel]

So, since, at the time, he had only received one email, I was correct? But if the clone had replied to him, he would have been correct?

[EvanED]

So, since, at the time, he had only received one email, I was correct? But if the clone had replied to him, he would have been correct?

That depends on what you mean about you being correct. If you mean that you can say "I got an email", then yes, you're correct. If you mean that saying that "I got email", even if there is only one, I vote no. I think the latter use is acceptable; people say "I got mail!" even if there is only one piece of physical mail all the time.

[yeyui]

We could just all agree to start saying "I got an eletter."

[bookishbunny]

If people wanted to say extra syllables, they would use the phrase 'electronic mail'.

[Axman]

No: the "me" is the direct or indirect object of the sentence.

Damn, beat me to it.

Also, an email is the equivalent to a letter:

"I mailed him a letter."

"I emailed him an email."

What should probably be avoided, is:

"He emailed me."

"He mailed me." I thought USPS was against that sort of thing.

E-mail vs. email is stylistic, both are right, BTW. I like it hyphenless, because I'm lazy and hyphen is way the fuck up there. You know, that should probably be "without a hyphen" or "hyphen-less".

Of course, I write out the word "degrees" because I don't know how to make the symbol...

[Axman]

Incidentally, I don't think there's anything wrong with "He emailed me," but I think it's awkward and ambiguous; if that was wrong, then so would be "He called me". Same thing with implied words, which gives you things like "Six items or less," which really ought to be "Six items or fewer," unless you read some implicit sentence, "Six items or less [than that]."

[bookishbunny]

Nouns are used as verbs now with abandon. I find it quaint, as far as the evolution of a language goes.

[Axman]

I find myself verbing often (as well as uptalking more and more, but then, my regular coffee place seems to have been run over by high school kids) although in more-or-less explicit ways.

Like, "I'm gonna motor." "I must beverage." "My mom is going to plane over for Thanksgiving."

But I think the distinction is that in those cases of verbing, people understand what I'm saying, with or without context. In part, it is because those words stick out as nouns, and people are made to decipher the meaning. There's just one way they makes sense.

When you have two distinct, logical-ass sentences, you can misread/hear them.

[bookishbunny]

logical ass-sentences

fix'd

Somebody had to do it.

[Rilian]

You could call 'mail' a mass-noun, and then "I got e-mail" would be right, but things that start out as mass-nouns often assimilate other count-noun meanings. Take, for instance, the word milk. It's totally a mass-noun. "I'm going to the store to buy some milk." But if someone says, "I bought two milks. You can have one of them," you know they mean 'cartons of milk' and, more specifically, you suspect they mean those 'little 1-pint cartons of milk that school cafeterias have'. It's like the verb 'to cage' means 'to put in a cage'. It's short-hand, and it's OK. So, I claim that the word 'mail', when part of the abbreviated compound word 'e-mail', has taken a count-noun meaning of 'a piece of mail', and it is appropriate to precede it with a singular article. Though, whether it is required is questionable, because the mass-noun meaning and sense of 'mail' still exists.

[RealGrouchy]

When I saw the title, I thought that this thread was discussing the construction of the actual word.

Like, if it were treated as a conjunction, it should really be e'mail.

Also, SpitValve hit the nail on the head back in May, when he pointed out that "an e-mail" is really just missing "message" at the end. "I was sent an e-mail [message]."

Weasel's (OP's) friend similarly missed a word when he said "has the same name as me." He should have written, "...same name as I [b]do[/i]."

- RG>