![]() Nobody is seriously in danger of not understanding email. Unhyphenated, words like ecommerce and egovernment might trip us over, so they need a helping hand. When it’s no longer required it can be removed, as shown by the OED’s latest revision. It’s used specifically where it’s needed to aid comprehension. The hyphen doesn’t come packed into all words by default. This doesn’t have to be a contradiction, though. Regarding other e-words, the OED still supports e-commerce, e-government, etc. ![]() Even if it was, I don’t see bmovie ever happening.) (The possible exception to this is X-ray, where the “X” simply stands for unknown-see also The X-Files and Cold War B-movie X for Unknown.) (Again, the “B” in B-movie isn’t an abbreviation. Does storywriting have a hyphen manual#If you’re interested, they’re covered in 7.67 of the Chicago Manual of Style. However, these are very specific words which use their initial letter for its shape rather than any specific meaning. X-ray has never become Xray, T-shirts are not Tshirts, and you drive round an S curve rather than a Scurve. The argument that supporters of e-mail often make is the lack of precedent. I think that’s a good argument in favour of email. People who write about technology tend to go for e-mail, while the people who actually work with technology either use email or both.
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