• corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca
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    6 months ago

    Emails, texts […]

    If you don’t know why ‘email’ doesn’t get an S on the end, then I think we’ve lost the illusion of authority.

    It’s like a tenor who can’t clear his throat.

      • threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works
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        6 months ago

        Huh, I never thought about this. The plurality norms don’t quite match snail mail.

        • “The mail is here” (this sounds normal)
        • “The mails are here” (this sounds unusual)
        • “I got an email” (this sounds normal)
        • “I got a letter” (this sounds normal)
        • “I got a mail” (this sounds unusual)

        I guess this comes down to the fact that there is no widely-used word for a single piece of electronic mail. Perhaps “eletter” would be the analogue, but I’ve never seen it used. As a result, “email” is used for both a single piece, and the category as a whole.