snail mail

Sanil mail is a conventional letter, unlike am e-mail, which is often abbreviated simply as "mail".

Snail Mail is a retronym, as in "acoustic guitar" (vs "electric guitar") or "landline" (vs. "mobile phone line")

Here's an interesting article on retronyms in general: IHT

Or here: "The example given [for retronym] in the Encarta dictionary is snail mail, "coined by those for whom mail is likely to mean e-mail.", see here

Edited by: soylentyellow this new software is weird...why do I have to click and click - what happened to good old fashinoed automatic just hit enter and the link is inserted????

Snail mail is mail that gets delivered to your door, as opposed to electronic mail (e-mail). People call it snail mail because it takes at least a day or two to arrive, as opposed to e-mails, which arrive in a few seconds.

An even better article - this time especially about snail mail: IHT

Hang on.

e-mail OR email?

Why waste breath with the hyphen?

wellwhywastebreathwithspaceswhoneedsthemanyway.

Well... yeeees...
But you would know about how hyphenated words quite often end up as single words as common usage slowly, and sometimes not so slowly, dictates.
What's the latest usage if one compares on Google and so on?
I mean, it's not all one way, or is it?

I think email wins. And as time goes by, email will outdo e-mail, simply because, well, get rid of the hyphens when they're not necessary. That's the way the English language goes, no?

The telephone company sends out bills for the preceding month a month later and the due date is the 14th. I have never gotten a bill prior to the due date or even within the grace period. I have to download my bill every month in order to pay it. There is a great post-mistress, and everyone at the post office is very helpful. The IRS has always been able to get me my forms and they always cash my check. I strongly suspect that junk mail goes in the circular file right at the Post Office. There are packages and huge sacks of mail all over the office. I think the problem is not just insufficient letter carriers, but that the town grew very fast and there are few street names and no numbers.

Another similar phrase is "sneaker net" or "sneakernet." I like this definition
>Refers to the channel by which electronic information is transmitted from one computer to another by physically carrying it stored on a floppy disk, CD or other removable medium. This play on words stems from the idea that a person is using their feet, i.e., sneakers, to transfer data instead of through the Internet or an organization's intranet.

"Sneakers" is an older term for athletic shoes or trainers, so "sneaker net" refers to the shoes of the delivery person.