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  electronic mail address
       
           (Usually "e-mail address", rarely "e-dress",
          "e-ddress") The string used to specify the source or
          destination of an electronic mail message.
          E.g. "john@doc.acme.ac.uk".
       
          The RFC 822 standard is probably the most widely used on the
          Internet though X.400 is also in use in Europe and Canada.
          UUCP-style+({bang+path" rel="nofollow">UUCP-style ({bang path) addresses or other kinds of source
          route became virtually extinct in the 1990s.
       
          In the example above, "john" is the local part which is the
          name of a mailbox on the destination computer.  If the
          sender and recipient use the same computer, or the same LAN,
          for electronic mail then the local part is usually all that is
          required.
       
          If they use different computers, e.g. they work at different
          companies or use different Internet service providers, then
          the "host part", e.g. "sales.acme.com" must be appended after
          an "@".  This usually takes the form of a fully qualified
          domain name or, within a large organisation, it may be just
          the hostname part, e.g. "sales".  The destination computer
          named by the host part is often a server of some kind rather
          than an individual's workstation or PC.  The user's mail
          is stored on the server and read later via client mail
          software running on the user's computer.
       
          Large organisations, such as universities will often set up a
          global alias directory which maps a simple user name such as
          "jsmith" to an address which contains more information such as
          "jsmith@london.bigcomp.co.uk".  This hides the detailed
          knowledge of where the message will be delivered from the
          sender, making it much easier to redirect mail if a user
          leaves or moves to a different computer for example.
       
          (1996-10-22)