Copy on vs. copy in - English Language & Usage Stack ...

So since you don't copy emails to people in the main body of the email, you have to say "I copied you on this email.". EnglishLanguage&UsageStackExchangeisaquestionandanswersiteforlinguists,etymologists,andseriousEnglishlanguageenthusiasts.Itonlytakesaminutetosignup. Signuptojointhiscommunity Anybodycanaskaquestion Anybodycananswer Thebestanswersarevotedupandrisetothetop Home Public Questions Tags Users Unanswered Teams StackOverflowforTeams –Collaborateandshareknowledgewithaprivategroup. CreateafreeTeam WhatisTeams? Teams CreatefreeTeam Teams Q&Aforwork Connectandshareknowledgewithinasinglelocationthatisstructuredandeasytosearch. Learnmore Copyonvs.copyin AskQuestion Asked 9years,6monthsago Active 5years,11monthsago Viewed 236ktimes 5 7 Whencopyingsomeoneinanemail,shouldwesaycopiedinorcopiedon?IwasalmostpositivethatinwastheonlycorrectusageuntilIhitgoogleandwassurprisedtoseeonmoreprevalent.Couldsomeoneexplainwhyoncouldbeusedinthiscontextaswesaysomethinginanemailnotonanemail? Icopiedhimonthisemail. Icopiedhiminthisemail. prepositions Share Improvethisquestion Follow editedJun15'20at7:40 CommunityBot 1 askedJun12'12at5:03 NoahNoah 13.2k5252goldbadges116116silverbadges159159bronzebadges 6 It'sessentially,"Icopiedhimon[thematterof]thisemail" – Jim Jun12'12at5:33 1 Ithinkofthe"on"asnotreferringtotheemailcontents,buttothedistributionlistfortheemail-oneis"on"thelistofrecipients.Relatedmaybetheolderphraseusedwithdiscussionofhardcopiesofdocumentsdistributed:"Icc'dhimonthismemo"ratherthan"Icc'dhiminthismemo". – KeithFlower Jun12'12at6:18 Orinto:(Icopiedhimintothisemail)toaddhimintothelistofrecipients.Oreveninon(Icopiedhiminonthisemail)--Ican'texplainthatoddconstructionbutitisusedatleastcolloquially. – AndrewLeach ♦ Jun12'12at7:07 2 Prepositionsarenotoriouslyfickleinhowthey'repairedwithverbs(inmanylanguages,notjustEnglish).Thatsaid,Ialwayssay/hearcopiedon,andnevercopiedin. – McGarnagle Jun12'12at7:58 Howabout"Icopiedhimthisemail"...? – GEdgar Jun12'12at14:33  |  Show1morecomment 2Answers 2 Active Oldest Votes 11 Botharenewexpressions,andhaven'tgonethroughthefullevolutionaryprocessyet.Bothareused,andbothareuseful.Also,theybothmakesense,whichisnotarequirement,butalwayshelps. Usuallyinreferstoa3-dimensionalcontainer,whileonreferstoa2-dimensionalsurface. Thebookisintheboxoronthetable. Sothequestioniswhetheranemailhas2or3dimensions. Thentherulewillbe: Useinifit's3andonifit's2. Unfortunately,however,thewholephenomenonofemailhappensmetaphorically,sothere'snothingwithanyrealdimensionstoholdonto.Theonlythingoneactuallyseesislettersonascreenarrangedinaparticularway.Itturnsoutthattherearetwometaphoricalwayswecaninterpret,speakabout,andthinkaboutit--oratleastthat'sallwe'vethoughtofsofar.Emailisprettynew. Onewayistousethemetaphortheme AnEmailisaLetter. Sincelettersareonpaper,andpaperis2-dimensional,thisallowson.Thatis,wespeak(andthink)oftheemailasbeingflat;thereforesomethingcanbeonit. Theothermetaphorthemethatweuseistofocusonthecontentsofanemail. AnEmailisanInformationContainer Containersarealmostexclusively3-dimensional,sothisallowsin. Bothviewsarereasonable,thoughneitherisactuallyreal.Computersaresonewinourexperiencethatwe'reconstantlyinventingnewmetaphorstotalkaboutthem,andwecanswitchviewswithoutblinking,orevennoticingwhatwe'vedone. Afterall,allcomputertermsaremetaphors,draggedinfromsomewhereelseandassignedanewmeaning--forinstance, editor,file,folder,spreadsheet,hacking,jumpdrive,slideshow,theNet,theWeb,surfing,spam,overflow,virus,worm,cut-and-paste,cyberspace,garbage,troll,wizard,etc. Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredJun12'12at15:05 JohnLawlerJohnLawler 97.7k1010goldbadges155155silverbadges417417bronzebadges Addacomment  |  2 Ibelievein/onforemailworksmoreorlesslikeamemoorletter.Withaletterormemo,thereisamainbody,aswellasaddress/signature/ccinformation,andinisusuallyreservedforthemainbody.Yousignyournameonaletter,andnotinaletter.Ifyousay"Iincludedthereturnaddressintheletter",itsoundstomelikeyoumeanthatitisinthebodyoftheletter.Butifyousay"thereturnaddressisontheletter",itcouldbeintheupperrightcorner,wherereturnaddressestraditionallyare. Sosinceyoudon'tcopyemailstopeopleinthemainbodyoftheemail,youhavetosay"Icopiedyouonthisemail." Share Improvethisanswer Follow answeredJun12'12at15:27 PeterShorPeterShor 78.6k88goldbadges157157silverbadges275275bronzebadges Addacomment  |  YourAnswer ThanksforcontributingananswertoEnglishLanguage&UsageStackExchange!Pleasebesuretoanswerthequestion.Providedetailsandshareyourresearch!Butavoid…Askingforhelp,clarification,orrespondingtootheranswers.Makingstatementsbasedonopinion;backthemupwithreferencesorpersonalexperience.Tolearnmore,seeourtipsonwritinggreatanswers. Draftsaved Draftdiscarded Signuporlogin SignupusingGoogle SignupusingFacebook SignupusingEmailandPassword Submit Postasaguest Name Email Required,butnevershown PostYourAnswer Discard Byclicking“PostYourAnswer”,youagreetoourtermsofservice,privacypolicyandcookiepolicy Nottheansweryou'relookingfor?Browseotherquestionstaggedprepositionsoraskyourownquestion. 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