emails eaten?

[Tedwonny]

If I want to say an email I sent was not delivered properly (e.g. wrong address so it's sent back to me / the recipient can't receive it), can I say the emails are eaten? I want something informal and colloquial thanks

 

[JMurray]

A common phrase that I've used myself is "bounced back".
"The email I sent bounced back, have I got the address wrong?".

not a teacher

 

[Tdol]

In BrE, I hear just bounced, as well as bounced back.

 

[Barb_D]

If you want specifically to be quirky about it, you can say something like "It got sucked into a black hole in cyberspace." But "I got a bounceback on the e-mail I sent you" tells the recipient what the problem was.

 

[Tedwonny]

Thank you all
What if it is not bounced back?
It was well-sent but the recipient can't receive it?

Thanks

 

[JMurray]

If the email isn't getting through because of, for example, spam filters or an attachment that's too large, it's said to be "blocked".

not a teacher

 

[emsr2d2]

If it's just one of those annoying times when you send a perfectly good email to a correct email address and it just doesn't get there, then it just "didn't go through", "wasn't received" etc. We don't have a specific phrase.

In addition to Barb's quirky suggestion about black holes and cyberspace, I have been known to say "I have no idea where that email went. It just disappeared into the ether!"