E-words

I received a “nice to e-meet you” message last week from a potential client based in Korea. Then later in the week, a vendor had me e-sign a project related contract. This got me to wondering how many different e-words exist. Remember when the word email was new? I also wonder if people even remember what the “e” stands for. And when does the word become so common that the hyphen is dropped (technically, the hyphen stills belongs in e-mail).

The Merriam-Webster Collegiate® Dictionary recently posted their annual list of new words that will be in the 2008 edition. While words near and dear to a researcher’s heart, such as webinar, made the list (but is still not in the MS Office spell check), I didn’t see any new e-words. But I think it is just a matter of time. After all, edamame and soul patch just made this year’s list.

I would be curious to hear what e-merging e-words others use in their day-to-day vocabulary.