However, just as I’ve seen, years ago, an email label on German enamel ware, I’ve also, around 1990 when I was teaching fax machine repair, seen a European fax machine with a version of the word ‘photocopy’ on it. And no, it was a 1980’s fax machine, and just did fax.
Not so. The English word “email” as in “email ink” is not written with an accent. It is written (but not pronounced) identically to the modern word.
So why on earth didn’t you include this information in your mystifying OP?
Hoist by his own pétard. Gaudere’s Revenge! Ha!
Are you always so unpleasant to people asking a general question on a General Questions message board?
I quoted the source that said, “(By the way, note that email (pronounced “ay-my”) is a color.)”, then asked what color email is. I didn’t have a way of knowing at the time that the source was borrowing from French. At the time of writing the OP, I assumed that somebody with access to the Oxford English Dictionary or similar would be able to answer the question. This doesn’t seem to be “mystifying”.
Thanks to everybody else for the interesting discussion.
A good OED substitute is etymonline.com. It’s what I use when I need etymological information, but it could be helpful for this type of question as well. Email does not appear to refer to a color in English at all (and, from what we’ve seen above, neither does it in French.)
That’s a great resource! Thanks, pulykamell. I looked for the OED online but needed a subscription for it.
The pedant in question teaches a class that requires a research paper. If I ever have to take this class, the topic of my paper may be “Uncommon Mistakes and Incorrect Statements Regarding Email”.
If you’re at an educational institution, you might want to check to see if you have access to the OED via them. I would check with their library. It’s been a couple decades since if I’ve been in college, but I see my university gives you access if you have a university NetID and password. (And you can access it from your computer at home – you don’t have to go to the library.)
I highly support this idea! Hope you get to see the look on his face when it sinks in. (Also, that you get an “A.”)
Then what is Wiktionary, chopped liver? You can get more lexical information from there than any other site I know.
Ummm…no? Wiktionary is a perfectly good resource and one that I use all the time. Did I badmouth it or something? Where is this unnecessary tone coming from?
I prefer etymonline for English-language etymological references a la the OED. I thought I had sufficiently caveated that in the part where I said “it’s what I use when I need etymological information.” That’s why I mentioned it. And now that you mention it, yes, Wiktionary is also another good place to check, particularly if you are looking across languages, and not just English.
Sorry. I’m sure I’m just being grumpy and my mood is affecting my reading of the “tone” in the post. I’m sure no offense was meant by you.
'S OK. Hey, I have etymonline bookmarked too, and use it a lot. I just feel unsatisfied if the etymology isn’t traced all the way back to Proto-Indo-European or other proto language, like my brain has had the appetizer but not the main course, still hungry for those sweet, crispy, delicious etyma.
nm
It seems to be the standard word in French in Canada. Here’s a contact page for a government department (first one I picked off a list): Agriculture et Agroalimentaire Canada (Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada).