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Unfortunately, it seems that you may be too inflexible in your
conception of what is "right" and what is "error."
Points such as the change in spelling of "email" are part of the
evolution of the language. While I quite agree that some language
changes don't make sense and represent a "dumbing down" of the
language, some of these changes are quite beyond our poor powers to
alter.
Would that things were so easily determined as you suggest!
> Can you post one example of a word that supports the removal of the hyphen
> in "e-mail"? No one can, and that's why "email" is incorrect. There's
> nothing so unique about that word that endows it with the privilege of being
> treated any differently than any other new word in the language.
A one-word support? Sorry, Bonnie, but you have left me on this
one...I haven't the faintest idea of what you might be asking. If by
this you mean the example of a single word that has made this
transition, I point merely to the term "email" itself...which is
rapidly displacing the hyphenated version in everyday use.
At my somewhat advanced age (56), I find increasingly that many of my
contemporaries have become so ossified that they are quickly making
themselves irrelevant.
Most of us have particular linguistic faux pas that we view as
especially flagrant ("Oh! The misuse of the apostrophe!"), more than a
few of these and we risk moving in the regard of our colleagues from
the mildly eccentric to the major obstruction.
Finally, I would be somewhat reluctant to classify those who simply
disagree on a minor point of language as the "unreasoning mob." I, for
one, might begin to believe you are trying to be deliberately
offensive after being labeled like that. Although I might stumble now
and again, most of the time I do try employing my reason in most of my
life. As for the "mob"--if by this you mean the hoi polloi that
doesn't agree with your views, of this I must admit I seem to qualify.
Cordially,
David
On 7/15/05, Bonnie Granat <bgranat -at- granatedit -dot- com> wrote:
> > I strongly suspect that "email" is becoming the preferred term more
> > rapidly because of its ubiquity.
>
> Error is like that, but there's no reason to not stand up to the unreasoning
> mob.
...
>
> >
> > As far as retaining the hyphen in "e-commerce" and "e-business"--I
> > rarely use either term at all.
>
> The issue is not the frequency of use of a term but the correct spelling of
> it when used.
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