Don&#146;t say &#145;e-mail&#146;

last updated 8 January 2015

Paris

The French government, always sensitive to linguistic incursions, has banned the use of the English word “e-mail” in all government correspondence. A Culture Ministry committee is insisting on the term “courriel,” short for “courrier electronique,” which means electronic mail. The committee said most French people say “courriel” anyway. But a Google search of French sites turns up 3 million hits for “e-mail” and only 74,000 for “courriel”—and a good portion of the latter are stories about the new government directive. French Internet providers said that while the government could do as it pleased, they would continue using the English word. “‘E-mail’ is so assimilated now,” said Marie-Christine Levet, president of Club Internet, “that no one thinks of it as American.”