by Wikus Engelbrecht
6. April 2011 05:00
The Associated Press has announced the slashing of the hyphenated form of the word “e-mail,” without much of an uproar, at the recent annual conference of the American Copy Editors Society, making “email” its newly accepted term.
Having been in use ever since the early days of ARPANET, which was the world’s first working packet switching system and a crucial component of the early internet, the then-awkward phrase “electronic mail” has come a long way.
The cyberspace big bang has been good for the industry. The technology has developed in leaps and bounds over the years though, having once been a text-only, non- interactive caveman, to the current universal explosion of communication. In recent days, email marketing has grown from a mere consumer tease to a vital lifestyle medium, originating a whole new vocabulary of its own.
Dictionaries and language activists have been on a long haul to include all this techno-speak, once viewed as an illegitimate tongue, into a slimmed-down for suitable for everyday use. Words like “fire-wall,” “on-line,” “web-site” and “band-width” have been shortened to “firewall,” “online,” “website” and “bandwidth” already. Newly conceived terms that enter into the mainstream soon evolve into more appetizing words, with more formal definitions.
At the forefront of endeavour is the Email Experience Council, encouraging digital citizens to give their support in cutting the hyphen. So far over 190 representatives of leading software companies, email marketers and publishers have signed the petition to endorse this movement. The time for “e-mail” to take its step into the computer-speak hall of fame is now, by becoming simply “email,” and it is naturally up to users worldwide to accept and practice the new styling preference.
As the number of sign-ups get more convincing, the EEC will place greater pressure on publishers and dictionaries to join the revolution and change the spelling of the word in their own constitutions. Some of the new “email” followers include the American Heritage Dictionary, the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary, Princeton University WordNet 3.0, to and Cambridge Advanced Learner’s Dictionary to name a few converts. The EEC has thanked the Associated press for its recent decision, and has kept going with its positive appeals to the public and to professionals, with a large degree of excitement.
Be a part of the change. “E-mail” is in the inevitable but slow growth process of shedding its old skin. The internet is a front-line for new language, and mkeeping up with change asks of us to say goodbye to “e-mail” and hello to “email”.
