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(efaq)Expanding aliases when sending mail

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Why doesn't Emacs expand my aliases when sending mail?
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   * You must separate multiple addresses in the headers of the mail
     buffer with commas.  This is because Emacs supports RFC822
     standard addresses like this one:

          To: Willy Smith <wks@xpnsv.lwyrs.com>

     However, you do not need to--and probably should not, unless your
     system's version of `/usr/ucb/mail' (a.k.a. `mailx') supports
     RFC822--separate addresses with commas in your `~/.mailrc' file.

   * Emacs normally only reads the `.mailrc' file once per session,
     when you start to compose your first mail message.  If you edit
     `.mailrc', you can type `M-x rebuild-mail-abbrevs <RET>' to make
     Emacs reread `~/.mailrc'.

   * If you like, you can expand mail aliases as abbrevs, as soon as you
     type them in.  To enable this feature, execute the following:

          (add-hook 'mail-mode-hook 'mail-abbrevs-setup)

     Note that the aliases are expanded automatically only after you
     type <RET> or a punctuation character (e.g. `,').  You can force
     their expansion by moving point to the end of the alias and typing
     `C-x a e' (`M-x expand-abbrev').