# Electronic Mail - what's the abbreviation?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electronic-mail-whats-the-abbreviation/7759
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 7, 1999, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electronic-mail-whats-the-abbreviation/7759 "1999-12-07T17:16:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 7
**Page:** 2
### Author:  [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)
#### Post date: [December 8, 1999, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electronic-mail-whats-the-abbreviation/7759/21 "1999-12-08T23:55:00Z")
Shucks, use any form of ‘email’ as long as you are consistent with it. I know a web site that uses a few variations of it on the site but they should not.
‘Internet’ is an acrynomn, isnt it? Ah, I long for the old debate on if its got a big ‘I’ or a small one.
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### Author:  [@labradorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/labradorian)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2000, 4:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electronic-mail-whats-the-abbreviation/7759/22 "2000-02-21T16:16:00Z")
Babelfish? You can get better translations throwing darts at a dictionary.
Courriel is very common in written documents, though I often hear French _speakers_ using “email”. Altavista turns up over 60,000 hits, although there are about a million for email and e-mail in French-language web pages.
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**Dee da dee da dee dee do do / Dee ba ditty doh / Deedle dooby doo ba dee um bee ooby / Be doodle oodle doodle dee doh** [http://members.xoom.com/labradorian/](http://members.xoom.com/labradorian/)
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### Author:  [@omni-not](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/omni-not)
#### Post date: [February 21, 2000, 5:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electronic-mail-whats-the-abbreviation/7759/23 "2000-02-21T17:26:00Z")
Bien sûr, nous avons aussi l’équivalent littéral “courrier électronique”, mais “courriel” a de plus en plus droit de cité, du moins au Canada. En France, où tout ce qui sonne anglais fait chic, on dit régulièrement “e-mail” qui, dans la bouche du Francais moyen, devient “i-mêle”, mais c’est une autre histoire…
Something for you to chew on, fair Cessandra 🙂
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### Author:  [@Crystalguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crystalguy)
#### Post date: [February 25, 2000, 7:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electronic-mail-whats-the-abbreviation/7759/24 "2000-02-25T19:38:00Z")
C’mon, guys, I listen to enough of that French-Canadian jive down here in Southern Florida-----don’t make me suffer any more than I have to.
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### Author:  [@Edward\_J\_Cunningham\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Edward_J_Cunningham_1)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2000, 1:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electronic-mail-whats-the-abbreviation/7759/25 "2000-02-27T01:17:00Z")
Does it really matter how you say “e-mail” in French when over 90% of global internet traffic is in English?
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### Author:  [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2000, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electronic-mail-whats-the-abbreviation/7759/26 "2000-02-27T06:27:00Z")
Well, see, ya gotta put that little hoary-zontal line in there, ‘cause electrons is negativvious – an’ that’s not a hyphen; it’s a minus sign. An’ ‘@mail’, the way I figger, should be ‘snail mail’, ‘counta the spiral. Don’ care wutcher OED should say, ner yer word-pro-sister.
But what does the Académie have to say about the appropriate French word for electronic mail?
Ray (‘You got a @/" up your mail.’)
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### Author:  [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)
#### Post date: [February 27, 2000, 6:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/electronic-mail-whats-the-abbreviation/7759/27 "2000-02-27T06:55:00Z")
Hm, I can understand the French stuff pretty well (I didn’t _quite_ get Arnold’s post, but I completely understand Omni-not’s) and I’ve never taken a single French class in my life. Please don’t ask me to _write_ in French though!
Re the OP: I usually write email, but e-mail looks okay to me too. Anything else looks kinda silly to me, especially e@mail and eMail.
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~Harborina
“Don’t Do It.”
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