On 2012-06-13, at 2:43 PM, Noel Chiappa wrote: > And that's what I'm interested in - is there any validity to the claims of > origin for the term. (The OED cite would be the place to start, obviously.) The OED's earliest citation is: 1979 _Electronics_ 7 June 63 (heading) Postal Service pushes ahead with E-mail.