Is there a word for "the sinking feeling you have when, the moment you've clicked to send off an e-mail, you suddenly realize there is an error in it"?

Sincerely,
Wordcrafter, in need of such a word

There isn't so far as I know. There is surely a need for one. I find that, no matter how many times one checks, it is not until a microsecond after clicking send, that a solecism suddenly ceomes apparent.

How about "e-oops"?

quote:

Originally posted by wordcrafter:
Is there a word for "the sinking feeling you have when, the moment you've clicked to send off an e-mail, you suddenly realize there is an error in it"?

Shit!

Tinman

What's more apalling by far is when you are composing an email and go to click on File or Edit but inadvertently hit Send instead

To preclude this eventually, never enter recipient in To... or Cc... until you're done

That's a great idea, Dale.

There is a way to retrieve an email as soon as you send it. On some emails it is easy to figure out, though I haven't been able to figure it out on all my email accounts.

There are 2 other embarrassing things that can happen: hitting "reply all" by mistake or if you put in the first letters of someone's name, and by mistake the wrong name appears in the "To" box (and you miss it) before you send it. I was the recipient of an email the former way which had some very sensitive material in it from one of our rival organizations. That was interesting! OTOH, I made the "reply all" mistake once when my daughter had included me on an email to all of her friends. I never heard the end of it, and to this day she won't send me an email where I can accidentally do that.

Email? Sounds like a Welsh name - or maybe French. Isn't "e-mail" sensibler?

As for the intent of this thread, how about post-post depression? Or maybe you're post-toasted?

quote:

There is a way to retrieve an email as soon as you send it.

I would rather doubt that. It is possible to retrieve an email from your outbox (which is why I always have my system set so outgoing emails will go there first) but once the message has actually left your system and gone to your server it's on its way. You can't get it back any more than you could get back a letter that you'd posted.

From Asa:

quote:

Email? Sounds like a Welsh name - or maybe French. Isn't "e-mail" sensibler?

1. I agree, I also prefer e-mail -- in part because "Email" (var.: "Emaille") is French & German for enamelled metalware, and I feel weird sending pots & pans electronically.

2. Re "sensibler", I'm tickled by your refusal to abide by the English rule for the polysyllabic comparative, tho I was thrown off (a little) by the fact that this, too, is a German word, in this case meaning "more sensitive". (another false friend or cognate).

David

We had a discussion awhile back about the hyphen in email. I realize that some style manuals (including ours at work) mandate the hyphen. However, more and more that is not the case, and I, for one, think the hyphen is unnecessary in this day and age. Each to her own, I guess.

Richard, I do believe there is a way to retrieve an email, as long as the recipient hasn't opened it. My IT department told me that's possible, though I don't always know how.

When I am at work, I can retreive and retract unopened emails that have been sent within our work system. If I have sent something outside our own library's system, it is unretractable. Could be the same for you.

I do not, obviously, find the hyphen necessary with the word email. Of course, I am notoriously lazy about conventionaly grammar and punctuation rules.

quote:

When I am at work, I can retreive and retract unopened emails that have been sent within our work system. If I have sent something outside our own library's system, it is unretractable.

That's the way it works for me with our MS Exchange system. As CW says, you can only use it for those using the same system. If you send it from home or to someone outside your organisation, it is not possible to retract it.

That's right. You might well be able to retrieve messages sent within your own intranet (just as you might be able to intercept internal memos.

But the internet is like the public mail system and once an item is in the system it cannot be intercepted; it is in trust until it is delivered - when it becomes the property of the addressee.

Lynn Truss uses "email," which is why I think she ought to be trussed up!

kalleh:Thanks for the tip on "Reply all"

As far as hyphens are concerned, any practice that reduces the number of keystrokes necessary to achieve some objective is to be encouraged

In one of my files Windows regularly cancels all spellchecking because it claims I have misspelled too many words. Working at the problem for an hour or two I finally devised an 18-keystroke macro to restore the spellchecking

Here it is, for anyone who has the same trouble

Sub restore()
'
' restore Macro
' Macro recorded 2/17/2005 by +
'
Application.ResetIgnoreAll
ActiveDocument.SpellingChecked = False
ActiveDocument.GrammarChecked = False
With Options
.CheckSpellingAsYouType = True
.CheckGrammarAsYouType = True
.SuggestSpellingCorrections = True
.SuggestFromMainDictionaryOnly = False
.CheckGrammarWithSpelling = True
.ShowReadabilityStatistics = False
.IgnoreUppercase = True
.IgnoreMixedDigits = False
.IgnoreInternetAndFileAddresses = True
.AllowCombinedAuxiliaryForms = True
.EnableMisusedWordsDictionary = True
.AllowCompoundNounProcessing = True
.UseGermanSpellingReform = True
End With
ActiveDocument.ShowGrammaticalErrors = False
ActiveDocument.ShowSpellingErrors = True
Languages(wdEnglishUS).SpellingDictionaryType = wdSpelling
Languages(wdEnglishUS).DefaultWritingStyle = "Standard"
ActiveDocument.ActiveWritingStyle(wdEnglishUS) = "Standard"
With CustomDictionaries
.ClearAll
.Add( _
"C:\Documents and Settings\dalehileman.SAHARA\Application Data\Microsoft\Proof\CUSTOM.DIC" _
).LanguageSpecific = False
.ActiveCustomDictionary = CustomDictionaries.Item( _
"C:\Documents and Settings\dalehileman.SAHARA\Application Data\Microsoft\Proof\CUSTOM.DIC" _
)
End With
End Sub
Sub Macro25()
'
' Macro25 Macro
' Macro recorded 2/21/2005 by +
'
Selection.TypeText Text:="‘‘‘" & ChrW(8220)
End Sub


Bill Gates hates us all

Back to the original question: "Is there a word for 'the sinking feeling you have when, the moment you've clicked to send off an e-mail, you suddenly realize there is an error in it'?"

All card-players will know the scientific term () defined in the bridge column of the newspaper:

quote:

An "ohnosecond" is the instant between when you play a card and when you realize you shouldn't have.

quote:

That's right. You might well be able to retrieve messages sent within your own intranet (just as you might be able to intercept internal memos.

I will check on this then. I was told any email that was sent could be retrieved, as long as the person hadn't opened it.

No, nein, non. Once it's into the Internet it's gone. Try sending me an email and I won't open it - and you try to get it back. Unless you can gain access to my server and passwords (when you could delete it) you won't be able to retrieve it.

It's like a snailmail letter; unless you can get into my letter-box and take the letter, you can do nothing to prevent my reading it (except ask me).