about email as a verb

[araujox2002]

hi...

I'd like to know if this sentence is right, I'm using the email word as a verb.

Please, don’t hesitate to email me if you have any question.


Thank

 

[GEmatt]

Hello,

I would use 'questions' plural, but otherwise it looks fine, to me.

GEmatt

 

[winklepicker]

The use of email as a verb is fine. I'd leave out the comma, and make questions plural:


Please don’t hesitate to email me if you have any questions.

 

[cuchuflete]

Greetings araujox2002,


You may wish to make questions plural. That is more idiomatic.

This is a relatively new word, so the verb form has at least three accepted spellings:

email
e-mail
E-mail

 

[araujox2002]

Thanks for all

 

[GEmatt]

This is a relatively new word, so the verb form has at least three accepted spellings:

email
e-mail
E-mail

Thanks for pointing that out, cuchu.
Is it common to abbreviate it to simply 'mail'? I see and hear that a lot over here, and didn't know what people were talking about, at first. "Did you get my mail?", things like that.
Cheers,
GEmatt

 

[cuchuflete]

Thanks for pointing that out, cuchu.
Is it common to abbreviate it to simply 'mail'? I see and hear that a lot over here, and didn't know what people were talking about, at first. "Did you get my mail?", things like that.
Cheers,
GEmatt

Hi GEmatt,
Yes, I too hear 'mail' used to mean e-mail message. When mail is used to refer to physical communication, it is typically plural or uncountable. "The mail arrived early today." = The letters, advertisements, newspapers, small packages arrived early today.

 

[elroy]

I only hear non-native speakers use "mail" that way. I don't think it's common among native speakers.

 

[GEmatt]

I only hear non-native speakers use "mail" that way. I don't think it's common among native speakers.

Exactly. The context here of course is Swiss German and French, but I was wondering if it is used in English as well, hence my question.
Have a nice evening/day, all.
GEmatt

 

[Not Logged In]

No, mail would never mean email in England. A mailing would be a bulk mailshot or junk mail. Letters (wanted ones) come in the post.

 

[GEmatt]

It is used in England, actually, although clearly not commonly, as elroy has said.

 

[Not Logged In]

Nope never for an email. Unless you were spoofing an American as in the film "You got mail!" But you would never use it in a business context.

 

[winklepicker]

Nope never for an email. Unless you were spoofing an American as in the film "You got mail!" But you would never use it in a business context.

I concur.

 

[panjandrum]

I'm surprised to read some of this. Perhaps it's because I live in a world that is full of e-mail now. I sent two letters last week - the first time I've used a formal letter-headed format for many weeks.

Mail = e-mail, noun or verb.

The stuff that comes on paper is post, not mail.

Mail me = send me an e-mail.

I'll mail you the specification - by e-mail.
I'll send you the specification - ambiguous.

This is a statement of personal usage, but it is, I believe, normal among my colleagues.

 

[winklepicker]

Mail me = send me an e-mail.

This is a statement of personal usage, but it is, I believe, normal among my colleagues.

Looks like you're just a bit more advanced than the rest of us, Panj - despite your avatar!

 

[elroy]

I think this is a clear British-American difference.

In the US, the stuff that comes on paper is the mail.

Could you go get the mail?
Has the mail come yet?
Please don't read my mail.

"I'll mail you the specification" clearly states that you will send it in the mail, in the post, in paper format.
"I'll e-mail you the specification" is what you would use to indicate that you will send it by e-mail.
"I'll send you the specification" is ambiguous.

"Mail me" does not mean "send me an e-mail." It's not used at all - not by itself, anyway. We say "e-mail me." For "send me a letter," we would say "Write me."

 

[GEmatt]

No, mail would never mean email in England.

Nope never

Mail = e-mail, noun or verb.

I'm astonished that anyone can be categorical about this, and right confused as to where this is heading.

A couple of telephone calls to my in situ contacts (all native BE speakers, living in England) confirmed that they, at least, either do use 'mail' to mean 'email', or they know of that usage, so that puts paid to the "never in England" side of things, as far as I'm concerned. What is clear is that 'mail=email' is used, enough that cuchu and panj (AE and BE, yes?) are aware of it or even use it themselves, but not enough for NLI to believe it has any currency in England.

Elroy's earlier post seems like good sense, to me:

I only hear non-native speakers use "mail" that way. I don't think it's common among native speakers.

in that I know the usage is more widespread among non-native speakers (for example, in the Swiss variants of French and German, "mail" to mean email is fairly standard, though I don't know if this extends to French French and German German). Having said that, NLI is suggesting it is an Americanism, and elroy is begging to differ. Is it all the foreigners' fault?

GEm

 

[panjandrum]

I'm astonished that anyone can be categorical about this, ...
[...]
Having said that, NLI is suggesting it is an Americanism, and elroy is begging to differ. Is it all the foreigners' fault?

I can be categorical about my own personal usage, which is what I clearly reported earlier

Is this an Americanism?
I really don't know. I suspect that in my case it has happened because I work in a very e-mail-aware context - in which the folder on my desk with snail-mail has "Today's Post" in big letters on the front.

In other words, in my world the only use of the word mail is in relation to e-mail. Hence the e- can safely be dropped.
I mailed you the report yesterday - e-mail.
I posted the report to you yesterday - snail-mail.
I sent you the report yesterday - ambiguous.

As before, this is the way things are understood in my particular context.

 

[GEmatt]

I can be categorical about my own personal usage, which is what I clearly reported ealier

Sorry panj, I had actually noted that you stressed this was "personal usage"...I threw the baby out with the bathwater, as usual.

In my world the only use of the word mail is in relation to e-mail. Hence the e- can safely be dropped.

Salient point. As long as there is no ambiguity, it doesn't make a great deal of difference how it is referred to, I think. Never mind the fact that I happen to agree with everything you've written.
GEmatt

 

[elroy]

GEmatt, I think the last thing it is is an Americanism. NLI was referring to one particular context, which in my opinion is not necessarily American just because You've Got Mail is an American movie. It is a reference to a message that commonly appears on many e-mail servers, because in that virtual world each e-mail is supposed to represent a letter, so e-mail is mail.

That said, I repeat that I have only come across foreigners using "mail" this way - and never among native speakers of American English (I have little to no contact with speakers of British English, outside this forum of course). This, of course, by no means constitutes evidence regarding the general use of "mail" among speakers of American English; it is simply my experience.

It seems entirely plausible that "mail" meaning e-mail may be more widespread in British English, in which "post" is used to refer to paper mail. Because "post" is very uncommon in American English with that meeting, it makes sense that we speakers of American English have not expanded the meaning of "mail" and continued to use "e-mail" for electronic correspondence.

 

[winklepicker]

As before, this is the way things are understood in my particular context.

I think what we are seeing here is the language in flux. As has already been pointed out, the spelling of email has not yet reliably settled down (a big opportunity for prescriptivists everywhere!), and clearly neither has spoken usage.

We each report our own experience which varies acccording to region, age group, business sector - and, no doubt, half a dozen other factors. I for one find it inspiring to see language developing like this before our very eyes. However, it does mean that at present there can be no resolution of the question of this usage* - merely an observation that usage differs. As I indicated, I suspect that Panj's use of mail for email is the way of the future - but we shall have to wait and see.

* Although I think the original question was resolved some time ago!

 

[Woofer]

That said, I repeat that I have only come across foreigners using "mail" this way - and never among native speakers of American English

I suspect this is very dependent on environment. In software development shops I've worked in, all in the USA, "mail" has meant email for a number of years now. "Mail it to me", "check your mail" and "I mailed it to you this morning" are all implicitly understood to refer to email.

To refer to postal mail (snail mail), we use the term "hardcopy", such as "I sent you a hardcopy". More commonly, we'll verb the shipping company, "I'll FedEx it to you" or "We UPSed it last night".

 

[panjandrum]

Thanks, Woofer, environment is a good word for this. It's interesting that mail (= email) is accepted in some environments in the US, given the normal use of mail (verb) there.

 

[Not Logged In]

It seems entirely plausible that "mail" meaning e-mail may be more widespread in British English, in which "post" is used to refer to paper mail.

No my point is that in my experience mail is NEVER a synonym for email in England. The English contributors on here confirm this.

Pangandrum is Irish so that's fine for there. The fact that s/he sends most of its post ectronically is fine - but don't lump me with him / her! I am actually quite offended by this insinuation.

I reject the BE description for my language. There is very little about 'Britishness' that I relish. And a great deal about Englishness that I do.

 

[panjandrum]

No my point is that in my experience mail is NEVER a synonym for email in England. [...]

That's fine, but it is not my experience.

I am in routine e-mail contact with colleagues from across the UK, and mail meaning e-mail is normal. We also use e-mail = e-mail of course.
As I suggested earlier, this is almost certainly because we work in a very e-mail-aware environment.

 

[Not Logged In]

No I would say that is because you are Irish and are not familiar with usual English business practice.

It is OUR experience that mail NEVER refers to email.

You may THINK you "work in a very e-mail-aware environment" but not obviously a mainstream English one that I and my English colleagues are familiar with.

 

[panjandrum]

No I would say that is because you are Irish and do understand usual English business practice.

Thanks Not Logged In.

My English colleagues confirm this view.

Edit: Oh, I see you have changed your mind.