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Lexikon

electronic mail

(e-mail) Messages automatically passed from one computer user to another, often through computer ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=networks">networks and/or via ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=modems">modems over telephone lines. A message, especially one following the common ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=RFC 822">RFC 822 ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=standard">standard, begins with several lines of ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=headers">headers, followed by a blank line, and the body of the message. Most e-mail systems now support the ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=MIME">MIME ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=standard">standard which allows the message body to contain "ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=attachments">attachments" of different kinds rather than just one block of plain ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=ASCII">ASCII text. It is conventional for the body to end with a ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=signature">signature. Headers give the name and ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=electronic mail address">electronic mail address of the sender and recipient(s), the time and date when it was sent and a subject. There are many other headers which may get added by different ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=message handling systems">message handling systems during delivery. The message is "composed" by the sender, usually using a special program - a "ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=Mail User Agent">Mail User Agent" (MUA). It is then passed to some kind of "ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=Message Transfer Agent">Message Transfer Agent" (MTA) - a program which is responsible for either delivering the message locally or passing it to another MTA, often on another ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=host">host. MTAs on different hosts on a network often communicate using ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=SMTP">SMTP. The message is eventually delivered to the recipient' s ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=mailbox">mailbox - normally a file on his computer - from where he can read it using a mail reading program (which may or may not be the same ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=MUA">MUA as used by the sender). Contrast ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=snail-mail">snail-mail, ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=paper-net">paper-net, ref="module.php?name=Lexikon&file=search&eid=1&query=voice-net">voice-net. The form "email" is also common, but is less suggestive of the correct pronunciation and derivation than "e-mail". The word is used as a noun for the concept ("Isn' t e-mail great?", "Are you on e-mail?"), a collection of (unread) messages ("I spent all night reading my e-mail"), and as a verb meaning "to send (something in) an e-mail message" ("I' ll e-mail you (my report)"). The use of "an e-mail" as a count noun for an e-mail message, and plural "e-mails", is now (2000) also well established despite the fact that "mail" is definitely a mass noun. Oddly enough, the word "emailed" is actually listed in the Oxford English Dictionary. It means "embossed (with a raised pattern) or arranged in a net work". A use from 1480 is given. The word is derived from French "emmailleure", network. Also, "email" is German for enamel. {The story of the first e-mail message (http://www.pretext.com/mar98/features/story2.htm)}. (2002-07-14)

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