# Email or e-mail?  Online or on-line?  Website or web site?  etc.

**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-or-e-mail-online-or-on-line-website-or-web-site-etc/143583
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [December 18, 2002, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-or-e-mail-online-or-on-line-website-or-web-site-etc/143583 "2002-12-18T16:47:37Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1

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### Author: ![rexnervous](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e9c0ed/32.png) [@rexnervous](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rexnervous)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2002, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-or-e-mail-online-or-on-line-website-or-web-site-etc/143583/1 "2002-12-18T16:47:37Z")

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Are there any defined standards?

[The Merriam Webster](http://www.m-w.com/) says _e-mail_ and _on-line_ and doesn’t have a listing for either of the ‘website’ terms.

[NetLingo](http://www.netlingo.com/) says either way for ‘email’, but uses only _online_. It also specifies _Web site_.

Curious…

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### Author: ![Surreal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/eada6e/32.png) [@Surreal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Surreal)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2002, 4:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-or-e-mail-online-or-on-line-website-or-web-site-etc/143583/2 "2002-12-18T16:51:41Z")

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O-ring

I-beam

T-cell

E-mail

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### Author: ![Scarlett67](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scarlett67/32/7387_2.png) [@Scarlett67](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scarlett67)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2002, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-or-e-mail-online-or-on-line-website-or-web-site-etc/143583/3 "2002-12-18T16:57:05Z")

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This is currently (and may always be) a style decision. Pick one in each case and use it consistently throughout a document.

:: Scarlett puts on copyeditor hat ::  
My preferences are:

e-mail (the hyphen aids ease of reading, IMO)  
online, offline  
Web site, Web page, home page

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### Author: ![mrcrow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/838e76/32.png) [@mrcrow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mrcrow)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2002, 5:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-or-e-mail-online-or-on-line-website-or-web-site-etc/143583/4 "2002-12-18T17:07:35Z")

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my spellchecker keeps changing email to Email  
as to the hyphen, it does make it easier to scan but doesnt fit the pronounciation phoneme  
good-bye:)

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### Author: ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)
#### Post date: [December 18, 2002, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/email-or-e-mail-online-or-on-line-website-or-web-site-etc/143583/5 "2002-12-18T17:21:42Z")

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My spellchecker does not correct email or e-mail.

And what in the world is the “pronunciation phoneme”?