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How do you say phoning by Skype? I would like to use the word in a semi formal way, in a work related email conversation, where I start emails with "Hi".

Skyping or Skypeing

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I think it's called Microsofting soon... :-P – sibbaldiopsis Jun 21 '11 at 1:04

3 Answers

up vote 3 down vote accepted

Use "Skyping"; just as you would "Googling" if you want to write what most people do (Based off Google hits per usage). Proper verbs (sic) seem to drop their final 'e' according to populism. That said, both are used.

Imho; Skypeing and Googleing are more correct since proper nouns are usually immutable. We don't capitalize the "i" in "iPhone" and I know of the Kennedys but not of the Kennedies.

That said I always suggest writing what others do when in doubt.

TLDR: Skyping.

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up vote 0 down vote

In your case, it would be "skyping".

The rule for this is very simple. If the word ends in a silent 'e', and the suffix begins with a vowel, then the silent 'e' is dropped. This only applies to silent 'e', and not to any vowels. Examples are:

Hope/Hopeless/Hoping/hoped

Note how in "hopeless" the suffix doesn't begin with a vowel, so the silent 'e' is not dropped; also, "hoped" in which the suffix is "-ed", so its not "hopeed", but the silent 'e' has been dropped.

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up vote -1 down vote

Although there are a few rare worlds ending "eing" ("queueing" is common and valid, although queuing is also used) in general, it's not done. Therefore I would suggest "skyping" would be the correct word.

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The interesting question to me is how the natural inclination to drop the "e" (which I share) interacts with the proper noun Skype. – Monica Cellio Jun 20 '11 at 23:08
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shouldn't it be "dying"? – Thursagen Jun 21 '11 at 1:03
@Ham and Bacon: I think so. According to the OED, "dying" is the correct form for "to die". The form "dyeing" exists for "to dye", though, which is a valid example for Christi's point. – CesarGon Jun 21 '11 at 1:27
Sorry, yes. Although I think 2 downvotes for the right answer with the wrong example a bit harsh. Ah well. Will correct. – Christi Jun 21 '11 at 1:38
@Monica Cellio I feel that the rules of language should not bend to the pressures of commerce, but then I may be the only person on the planet who thinks her MP3 player is an "Ipod", however the marketing types bastardise the language. – Christi Jun 21 '11 at 1:45

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