this post was submitted on 15 May 2024
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[–] [email protected] 3 points 5 months ago

Huh, I never thought about this. The plurality norms don't quite match snail mail.

  • "The mail is here" (this sounds normal)
  • "The mails are here" (this sounds unusual)
  • "I got an email" (this sounds normal)
  • "I got a letter" (this sounds normal)
  • "I got a mail" (this sounds unusual)

I guess this comes down to the fact that there is no widely-used word for a single piece of electronic mail. Perhaps "eletter" would be the analogue, but I've never seen it used. As a result, "email" is used for both a single piece, and the category as a whole.