Etymology
According to Merriam-Webster, the first use of the term "snail mail" was in 1983. The phrase was in existence for decades earlier, but meaning slow mail as opposed to meaning human delivered mail. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary, the old system of delivering mail was referred to as snail mail in 1983 as a comparison to electronic mail (email) begun in 1982.
Recently, etymologists have found that the term "snail mail" may have derived from bandit colloquialisms. Due to the snail-like shape of the covered wagon and its driver's tendency to recoil into the canopy for safety, bandits referred to mail carriers as "snails." Along this line of thinking, hoof trails were known as "snail trails," akin to the slime left behind a moving snail. These facts considered, we then have a better understanding of why thieves would throw salt in the eyes of wagon drivers.
Read more about this topic: Snail Mail
Famous quotes containing the word etymology:
“Semantically, taste is rich and confusing, its etymology as odd and interesting as that of “style.” But while style—deriving from the stylus or pointed rod which Roman scribes used to make marks on wax tablets—suggests activity, taste is more passive.... Etymologically, the word we use derives from the Old French, meaning touch or feel, a sense that is preserved in the current Italian word for a keyboard, tastiera.”
—Stephen Bayley, British historian, art critic. “Taste: The Story of an Idea,” Taste: The Secret Meaning of Things, Random House (1991)
“The universal principle of etymology in all languages: words are carried over from bodies and from the properties of bodies to express the things of the mind and spirit. The order of ideas must follow the order of things.”
—Giambattista Vico (1688–1744)