Timeline for Is there a formal term for "snail mail"?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
10 events
| when toggle format | what | by | license | comment | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Oct 1, 2021 at 16:11 | comment | added | jsw29 | Physical mail is problematic, because the processes involved in transmitting e-mail are physical processes. | |
| Aug 9, 2018 at 8:42 | comment | added | BoldBen | "Physical mail" is good. It really is the opposite of "electronic mail" which, as most of us have forgotton, is the origin of the term "eMail" (note I've gone back to inserting the upper case 'M') | |
| Jun 14, 2015 at 12:57 | comment | added | Fattie | why is paper mail informal? | |
| Dec 3, 2011 at 12:36 | comment | added | Lie Ryan | "postal mail" might be redundant in the world where only "postal service" provides mailing service. But nowadays when Internet also provides mailing service, IMO it is no longer redundant. | |
| Dec 3, 2011 at 12:32 | comment | added | Lie Ryan | In a world where email is sent much more often than postal mail, I'm sure there will be people, especially younger ones, that would assume that "regular mail" is "email" | |
| Dec 3, 2011 at 2:46 | comment | added | James Waldby - jwpat7 | @Eric If you add x to any ngrams list like "a x,b x,c x", x will outshine the rest because it will include the numbers from all of them, plus any other x refs there are. It is, however, of interest to add email to the list, and look at different date ranges; for example, usage of "air mail" dominates all the others from about 1925 to 1990. | |
| Dec 3, 2011 at 0:15 | comment | added | Eric | if you add "mail" to that list it outshines the rest. | |
| Dec 2, 2011 at 21:53 | comment | added | James Waldby - jwpat7 | I don't know the etymology of "surface mail"; you might be right; in any case, I recall the term being used, rightly or wrongly, to distinguish snailmail and email when email was new. | |
| Dec 2, 2011 at 21:21 | comment | added | Random832 | I thought "surface mail" was a term specifically invented in opposition to airmail, back when airmail was a new and exciting thing. | |
| Dec 2, 2011 at 20:29 | history | answered | James Waldby - jwpat7 | CC BY-SA 3.0 |