E-mail - what's in a name?

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of the number of people ... ...
to the Internet vary, from ... to 100 million and upwards.
If we accept the ... figure of 60 ...
surmise that each person s Estimates of the number of people currently connected to the Internet vary, from 60million to 100 million and upwards. If we accept the conservative figure of 60 million,and surmise that each person sends and receives ONE email message every day, thatmeans there are 120 million email messages whirling about every single day.How many email messages were waiting for you when you logged on today? I'll hazarda guess and suggest that it would have been somewhat more than one!A report from the Jupiter organisation estimates that commercial e-mail spending willgrow from $164 million in 1999 to $7.3 billion in 2005 - this represents an estimatedforty-fold increase in e-mail volume.It's also estimated that the average number of commercial e-mail messages that USonline consumers receive per year will increase from 40 in 1999 to over 1,600 in 2005;non-marketing and personal correspondence will more than double from approximately1,750 in 1999 to almost 4,000 in 2005.
So it's no exaggeration to say that one of the fastest growing methods ofcommunication is email. In fact, we're in the middle of a communications revolutionand it's ironic that we're once again relying on one of the earliest forms of masscommunication - the written word.Language is a dynamic, living thing and in the past, has been able to keep pace withchanges; so, when electricity was invented (or discovered - depending on your view ofthe world), it was given a name which comes from elektron the Greek word for "amber"and electrum, the Latin word for "amber" - the alloy of gold and silver.
In the mid 1600sit was known that rubbing amber or glass would produce a magnetic effect thatattracted light weight materials, threads, dust etc and this was the only known use forelectricity for many years - until that fellow with the kite came along!The first big break-through in rapid mass communication, the telegraph, takes its namefrom two Greek words: tele meaning "far off" and graphein "to write, draw or representby lines". Television is a mix of the Greek tele and Latin visus, past participle of the verb "tosee".
Computers were given a name which is derived from the Latin computatio - areckoning, because in the early days, that's all they did.But, as with many phenomena which have burst onto the scene in the last decade, theWorld Wide Web has outstripped our store of words. We've grabbed at a stop-gapsolution and come up with the prefix "E" to describe anything to do with the Internet,so there's e-commerce, e-books and e-mail.
Since e-mail is here to stay, now is the time to come up with some sensible terms todescribe it - let's start sending each other e-notes - that's a quick and efficient term todescribe a quick and efficient method of communication!Just because we're using a system that is fast, doesn't mean that we have to becomelazy in our use of language. Because it's so easy to send an e-note to one person or athousand people, the temptation is to treat e-mail more as if it's a note on the fridgedoor, than as a legitimate, serious form of communication.You scribble a note to stick on the fridge door to tell your kids to feed the dog beforethey go to music lessons:Feed Spot be4 u go xxxx MumYour daughter leaves a note that she's gone next door to do her homework:At Kath's - hist test 2morrow - ugh! SeeyaWe know what these messages mean, but they're hardly the sort of thing you wantanyone outside the family to see and yet, every day thousands - millions - ofmessages just like this are flying through cyberspace! Messages that use symbols,numbers and abbreviations to convey complex ideas and thoughts.Need info on midi sites pronto.
Pls send all URLs 2 me. IMHO best site on web is here.com Wish I had their hits LOLMe too ;) Not everyone is familiar with the use of abbreviations, symbols and 'emoticons' and it'svery easy to miss subtleties of meaning.
E-mail IS a legitimate form of communicationthese days - and there are a number of conventions that have emerged to govern itsuse. Read about how to avoid costly and embarrassing mistakes in your e-mail.The Internet has made it possible for us to communicate with people from all over theworld - and the only way those people can form an opinion about us, is by looking atthe way we write.
If you feel that you could do with a refresher course in writing, or justa few tips to improve your expression, then visit http://www.write101.com and spendsome time reading the free articles on site. Source: Free Articles from ArticlesFactory.com .