Introduction
Even though the two words Male and Mail sound the same, the meaning of both words is entirely different. Such kinds of words that sounds or words with the same pronunciation but differs in meaning are called homophones. For example; Ate and Eight, Eye and I, New and Knew, etc. Homophones are also divided into two. If the spelling of both the words is similar, then they are called homographs and if the spelling is different then they are called heterographs.
The major difference between the two terms Male and Mail is that when the word Male, which is an adjective or noun refers to a specific gender or sex, the term Mail, which is a noun or verb refers to letters or parcels sent via post or online.
Male which can be a noun or an adjective refers to the gender or sex of an organism. This can be a person, a plant, or an animal. Male more scientifically are capable of producing motile gametes called sperms which can fertilize the eggs of females in living beings and non-living beings such as plants, male plants will be having stamens, not pistils.
Mail which is most commonly a noun or a verb is something that is shared in your mailbox or post office box. Post was the word used for mail for a very long time. Mail can be a letter, magazine, bills, packages, or anything which is sent through the postal service. E-mail is the electronic version of the common mail and is received online.
Difference Between Male and Mail in Tabular Form
| Parameters of comparison | Male | |
| Definition | Refers to man in human beings or male gender(sex) | Letter or parcels which can be shared via post or an online letter(e-mail) |
| Function | To produce male gametes | To share information |
| Example | Man, Bull, Lion | Parcel, E-mail, Letters |
What is a Male?
The term Male which refers to masculinity or man is applicable to both living and non-living beings. If we add the letters ‘FE’ before Male, then it will be Female which changes the entire meaning. The variations in hormones such as androgen levels etc. This results in the development of secondary sexual characters in a male organism. Plants and living beings exhibit almost similar characteristics. More biologically, X and Y are the chromosomes found in Males, which makes them differ from females who have X and X chromosomes.
Technically speaking there is one more definition for Male where it can be termed as some machine fittings which can be fitted into hollow parts or hollowed fittings.
While talking about human beings, males or men have comparatively more physical strength than the opposite gender. According to studies, in general, men (male) are portrayed as having greater emotional control than women, even though they are often described as being more distant from their feelings. However, men often appear to become angry or violent more easily and are often rewarded indirectly for doing so. But this is not the same situation every time.
In most scenarios, Families looked to the males for economic support. Males were considered to be more powerful. Protecting women was a male duty. Those in high positions were considered more powerful. However, that is no longer the case. Human males tend to speak coarsely. Some male animals may have a loudly resonant voice. The males usually controlled the group. Males set the rules and protect their territory.
Animals also exhibit almost similar characteristics in sex as human beings. It is the secondary sexual characters that differ from sex to sex. Males are usually bigger, stronger, more colorful, or endowed with some form of conspicuous ornamentation, especially in birds and mammals. Yet these distinctive characteristics make predators more aware of the animals as their long plumage on male peacocks (Pavo cristatus) and birds of paradise (Paradisaea) and antlers on aged male deer (Odocoileus) may make them easy prey.
Most plants have both male and female sex organs in a single plant (Diecious plants). The pollen-bearing anthers of plants are the male sex organs.
What is a Mail?
Mail as we discussed before is the way through which anything like letters, envelopes, parcels, etc. was sent. It has been proposed that the invention of writing may be one of the factors that lead to the invention of mail, postal systems, or courier services to pass messages from one person to another in another place. Postal services are operated regionally by both the public and private sectors. The governments of each country have established a national postal system. Its function is to coordinate the circulation of mail within the country.
History of Mailing System
Almost every single thing in this world has a history, and sending mail is no different. It has undergone many changes throughout time.
It was in almost about 2400BCE, the first documented use of a portal system began in Egypt. Mail dating back to 255 BCE has also been found in the Oxyrhynchus papyri cache, found among ancient Egyptian artifacts. It was Frenchman Jean-Jacques Renouard de Villayer (1607–1691) who established the first postal network in Paris in 1653. In exchange for selling pre-paid postage envelopes, he set up mailboxes and delivered all letters placed in them. Thus, the modern postal system was born. Since its creation in 1874, the UPU now includes 192 member countries and sets rules for international mail exchanges.
The first way to deliver mail until the 16th century, when private mail systems began to appear in Europe and the American colonies, was to give the message to someone who would travel roughly in the direction where the letter needed to be delivered and hoped it would arrive. As early as 1673, several different postal systems were operating in the colonies, but it wasn't until 1775 when Benjamin Franklin became the first postmaster general of the United States and the United States Postal Service was formed, that a coherent postal system was established. As a means of providing fast, reliable mail delivery to western territories, the Pony Express branch of the US Postal Service was established in 186Messages on the express could travel more than 7,000 miles from Missouri to California in ten days, an almost unimaginable feat. While the use of planes, trains, and cars shortened the time it took for mail to move around the world, the time it took for a letter to get from writer to recipient remained a barrier.
Letters
In the past, writing letters was the most basic form of sending and receiving communication between two people. Letters date back to very old times when even animals were a mode of sharing mail (letters) during those days. Since pigeons have a good sense of direction, they were the first animals used to "deliver" these letters, hence the name "pigeon post" (Conrad, 2013). The primary method used to distribute these letters changed from horses to humans in 1516, when the British government appointed the first 'Master of the Posts' (Tomshinsky, 2013, p. 114). Eventually, the concept of a specific individual delivering letters to recipients led to what we know as "postmen".
E-mail or Electronic mail
The internet version of mail is called E-mail. A time-sharing mainframe system, MIT's Compatible Time-Sharing System, became the first email system in 1965. 1971 marked the beginning of the exchange of email messages between computer systems using a computer network. ARPANET served as the vehicle for these early email exchanges. The messages piggybacked off File Transfer Protocol (FTP), which was already in use. Although email wasn't yet recognized as a first-class citizen, it was a very effective communication tool.
Mails or letters were the only modes of communication in earlier times. Parcels or letters were shared via post offices which are located in most of the localities. Postal stamps also played a major role in those days since it was needed to send any item those days. Nowadays emails or letters that were shared via post offices got replaced with E-mails and also, we can send an email to multiple people at the same time through various options called CC (Carbon Copy), BCC (Blind Carbon Copy), etc. E-mails are the cheaper and faster option for mail. There are several options available to send a letter or mail via the Internet, even if you only want to mail a letter. E-mail is the most common way to send an electronic message through the Internet. You do not need to use a piece of paper, stamp, or spend money to send an email through a service like Gmail or Yahoo Mail. Using email, you can send a letter virtually, which the recipient can receive immediately.
In the medieval period or Middle Ages, some sort of flexible armours which are made up of interlinked metal rings such as chair armour, ring armour, etc. Were also known by the term, ‘Mail’.
Main Differences Between Male and Mail in Points
- In the definition of male, it refers to the sex responsible for producing sperm, or to the gender that is usually associated with sperm production whereas Mail is a bag or parcel which contains letters to be delivered by the post.
- Unlike females, males have characteristics that are indicative of being male, such as the presence of hair throughout the body, the sound of their voice, and being manly at the same time your mailing address must be the address where you will deliver your mail.
- In biology, a Male is someone whose cell contains the Y chromosome. You can write your letters by hand and mail them or your mail can be printed out.
- In the case of plants, Male plants bear only staminate flowers. Mail is one of the communication systems whereby messages can be transmitted through postal ways (post offices).
- The reproduction of a male organism is impossible without at least one ovum from a female, but certain organisms can reproduce both sexually and asexually. In the mail, you can both send it via post and also online called E-mails.
- Males tend to show more physical strength than other gender or sex in living beings. The postal stamp is used only on mail shared via post and not on any mail shared online (E-mails).
- The function of Male is to produce male gametes for reproduction and at the same time function of Mail is to relay information.
- Some machine fittings which can be fitted to hollowed fittings are also termed as Male technically. E-mails or electronic mails are faster than normal post mails.
- According to studies, when it comes to fish males are smaller than females, while in humans, males are larger than females. Before the invention of the telephone, mail was the most common form of communication.
Conclusion
Homophones are always an interesting topic to talk about. We had started studying homophones in our childhood itself.
When a Male represents a gender or sex, Mail at the same time represents a letter or anything sent via parcel or internet (E-mail).
It is the male organism that produces the male gamete. Female gametes are fertilized by the male gamete. Upon receiving a Y chromosome from the male parent, the fusion product becomes a male embryo.
Mankind has been served impressively by both mail and email. In the past, people used to send letters to loved ones by handwritten mail. Until a few decades ago, this was the only means of communication between people. Writing to loved ones has long been regarded as a sacred art. Many people continue to write letters to their loved ones. Letters serve as reminders of good times both past and present.
Stamps or postal stamps also played a major role in mail or letters. Affixing a postage stamp to the envelope guarantees the safe delivery of the mail. Postal stamp collection is one of the favourite hobbies of many people.
There are more such homophones which you can find from various sources apart from Mail and Male. Hope you will check it out and find their differences just like you found the differences between these two terms.
References
- https://www.prc.gov/sites/default/files/papers/hist-mail-class.pdf
- https://web.stanford.edu/~eckert/PDF/Chap1.pdf
- https://www.researchgate.net/publication/281405832_Email
- https://www.apa.org/pi/lgbt/resources/sexuality-definitions.pdf
- https://www.thoughtco.com/history-of-mail-1992142
