The Email Experience Council's "Hyphens Equal Disrespect" Petition is about more than shortening a commonly used word so you don't look antiquated, especially in the eyes of younger customers. It's about acknowledging that today's email is ubiquitous, powerful, interactive and cost-effective—and has very little in common with its Cro-Magnun, text-only ancestor, "electronic mail." Email has evolved and so has the spelling.

We’re constantly amazed to the resistance we encounter when talking to publications and other folks that use the old, hyphenated spelling. Here’s a great example of what we hear. In a recent “Ask AP” story on the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s website, Tim Bergerhofer of Kansas City, Mo., asked:

As electronic mail became widespread, it came to be referred to as "e-mail." Many users soon began to drop the hyphen (fewer keystrokes). Now, "email" is searched on Google nearly six times as much as "e-mail." Is there a plan to switch "e-mail" to "email" in an upcoming version of the AP Stylebook?

Call us stubborn, or sticklers for clarity, but AP sees no compelling reason to replace e-mail with email. Why do we stand on e-mail? That spelling is the first choice of major dictionaries, including AP's primary spelling reference, Webster's New World College Dictionary Fourth Edition. It is also the preference of many newspapers. And e-mail is consistent with other hyphenated, electronic age terms such as e-book, e-commerce, e-shopping and e-business (which would look odd without hyphens). You're not the first to propose dropping the hyphen. But the arguments of one fewer keystroke and search engine statistics don't convince us that e-mail would be enhanced by excision.

Given how frequent web searchers are punching in the sans-hyphen spelling, we think it incredulous that the AP can argue that they’re “sticklers for clarity.” Clearly there’s no confusion about what “email” is.

While true to some extent, arguing that using a hyphen in “email” is consistent with other electronic age terms like “e-book” and “e-commerce” is becoming a harder argument. “Ebook” is already searched for far more often than “e-book,” and “ecommerce” should permanently overtake “e-commerce” in search frequency sometime this year.

Now it’s true that Webster’s still spells email with a hyphen, although some dictionaries don’t. But here’s the thing about dictionaries: They take their cue from the media. And the media largely takes their cue from the marketplace. So join our growing list of petition supporters and banish the hyphen from your spelling of “email.” And if your favorite publication is still using a hyphen, ask them why they’re disrespecting the email marketing industry by using the 20th century spelling.

—Chad White of the Email Experience Council

News last week that the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary’s latest edition dropped hyphens from about 1,600 words provides further proof that the time has come for marketers, publishers and dictionaries to drop the hyphen from the word email.

Show your commitment to adopting the 21st century spelling of the word email by signing our 'Hyphens Equal Disrespect' petition. So far, more than 160 people, representing companies both large and small, have signed the petition, signaling that they would spell the word sans hyphen in their emails, press releases, whitepapers and other publications. If you’d like to add your name to the list of supporters, just click here, let us know your name and the company you represent, and we’ll add your name (but not your email address) to the petition. As the number of signees grows, the EEC will use this list to convince publishers to change their spelling of the word.

Reacting to the news from the Shorter OED, Rob over at the Serial Comma blog has a great examination of the email vs. e-mail debate. He also quotes Angus Stevenson, editor of the Shorter OED, as commenting to the BBC that e-mail—with the hyphen—is ’starting to look like something your grandmother might write.’

We couldn’t agree more. Spelling email with a hyphen is antiquated and adds extra length to the word without adding clarity. As we pointed out in our May 8 ‘Hyphens Equal Disrespect’ Petition Update, the majority of references to email on the web are spelled without a hyphen, proving that people aren’t confused by the word sans hyphen.

Help us honor email’s evolution into a ubiquitous and rich form of communication and sever its connection to its less evolved text-only ancestors by dropping the hyphen. Sign the petition today!

—Chad White

My MediaPost article last week on why it’s time to spell “email” without the hyphen created a huge surge of support for our Hyphens Equal Disrespect petition—and also prompted some interesting and amusing counterarguments.

More than 100 people, representing companies both large and small, signed the petition, signaling that they would spell the word sans hyphen in their emails, press releases, whitepapers and other publications. If you’d like to add your name to the list of supporters, just click here, let us know your name and the company you represent, and we’ll add your name (but not your email address) to the petition. As the number of signees grows, the EEC will use this list to convince publishers to change their spelling of the word.

In the article I argued that spelling “email” without the hyphen was not only easier and shorter, but more accurately reflected what email is today by severing its association with old fashioned mail. In response, one commenter accused the anti-hyphen crowd of being lazy—which is a great point. People are totally lazy. They crave shortcuts and simplicity. It’s one of the key drivers—if not THE key driver—behind language evolution. So that’s yet another reason to cast off the hyphen.

Another hyphenista said that without the hyphen “the first syllable begs to be pronounced as a schwa (‘uh-mail’) instead of an accented ‘e.’” The English language is full of rule breakers, silent letters and other quirks that sometimes trip people up, but I can’t say I’ve ever heard anyone mispronounce the word as “uh-mail”—or for that matter “em-ail.” People are already extremely familiar with this sans hyphen spelling (as I’ll prove in a minute).

This same person said: “Thankfully, ‘e-mail’ remains the correct spelling for no less an authority than The Chicago Manual of Style, The Associated Press Stylebook, The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage, The American Heritage College Dictionary, and Webster’s New World College Dictionary, among others. It’s also endorsed by such language experts as William Safire, Bill Walsh, John McIntyre and Barbara Wallraff. Shall I go on?” Sure, but it would be totally pointless. Language is not governed by autocratic “authorities” like these. It’s created by the masses. Language evolution is democratic.

Roger Harris, of Sigma Xi, The Scientific Research Society, wrote in to cast his vote for democracy, saying that he supports the principle of common usage. He then decided to hold his own little election, “e-mail” versus “email,” to see which spelling was more common. “Perhaps not coincidentally,” he said, “we have a useful tool to determine such usage: search engines.” The result from Google? Hyphenistas 1.96 billion. Anti-hyphenistas 2.01 billion.

“It seems the tide has turned,” said Harris, "and, in support Chad’s proposition, ‘email’ should become the preferred, and correct, usage.”

I polled Yahoo and MSN today and found even more conclusive support: Yahoo preferred “email” 3.19 billion to 1.95 billion, while MSN preferred “email” 580 million to 170 million.

So there’s already been a silent uprising in support of “email.” Help us make a little noise and convince the “authorities” that hyphens are so 1990s by signing our petition.

—Chad White