Australian English: is it email and/or e-mail?

Email has been a firm feature in Australian households since the 1950s – fact!

But am I referring to "electronic mail" here? 📧

Welcome to Australia's unique confusion with "email"!

When it was rolled out to the wider masses in the mid 1990s, electronic mail was consistently spelled as "e-mail" with hyphen. Since then, the more common spelling has been minus the hyphen – "email".

However, before "email", for decades there was "Email" – the brand name for Australia's then main supplier of electric meters and electrical appliances. An acronym for "Electricity Meter & Allied Industries Ltd", there was hardly a home in Australia without an Email meter and an Email fridge.

"E-mail" with a hyphen was convenient in Australia to distinguish it from "Email" the brand back in 1990s. Fast forward to today and even Australian English dictionaries state that "email" is the standard spelling, and "e-mail" is not even offered as an alternative.

However, convention finds that Aussies who grew up with Email the brand and first encountered electronic mail in late 1990s still tend to spell as it was originally – e-mail.

This Australian audience quirk is something to keep in mind when creating content and copy for Australia, particularly when aiming for older Aussies.

👉 Follow me for this and other untold tips and quirks about Australian English and its everyday use. And if you need your content, text and/or copy made dinky di for the Australian market, feel free to contact me.