Shooting an Email

"I'll shoot you an email on it."

I've been thinking about this phrase for awhile now, and it came up at a meeting today. Why do people say, "I'll shoot you an email"? This seems to be pretty common usage today. Why would "shoot" be an appropriate verb for the action of emailing? I agree that "send" is pretty boring (as in, "I'll send you an email"), but "shoot" is just so aggressive and weird. Maybe it's that the phrase makes sending an email sound cooler. But really. How many "cool" emails have you ever sent? And even if the email's content is "cool," sending it is, well, just pushing a button.

Part of it must be because email is electronic. I mean, you'd never "shoot" someone a letter, now would you? But not just electronic. Because you'd never "shoot" someone a phone call. So part of it is the one-sided nature of an email. A single email is not interactive.

My one request: If you are going to continue (or start) using this phrase, every time you "shoot" someone an email, say "Fire" when you press the send button. Just like I'm doing right now. "Fire."