css - :hover:before text-decoration none has no effects?

Question

As title, I'm adding icons using .icon-*. When adding an icon to an hyperlink:

<a href="#" class="icon-email icon-large">Email me!</a>

The content inserted by content property shows the underline text-decoration on hover. I'd like to disable the text-decoration only for the content before:

[class^="icon-"]:before, [class*=" icon-"]:before {
    font-family: 'IcoMoon';
    font-style: normal;
    speak: none;
}
.icon-mail:before {
    content: "37";
}
[class^="icon-large-"]:before, [class*=" icon-large"]:before {
    font-size: 48px;
    line-height: 48px;
}
a[class^="icon-"]:before, a[class*=" icon-"]:before {
    margin-right: 5px;
    vertical-align: middle;
}

I've tried this but it's not working (decoration is still visible):

a[class^="icon-"]:hover:before, a[class*=" icon-"]:hover:before {
    text-decoration: none;
    color: white;
}

Answer 1

Insert display:inline-block; in your css. Something like the one below:

.icon-mail:before {
    content: "37";
    display:inline-block;
    text-decoration:none;
}

Here is the JS FIDDLE:

http://jsfiddle.net/73p2k/18/