Why still uppercase I for internet?

[KlondikeGeoff]

A search did not find any threads on this.

It still irks me to see Internet with an uppercase I when it is not a proper noun. We don't write about the Phone Company or the Telephone Company, so why is the internet so honored?

Even spell checkers use the uppercase. Or should that be Upper Case? :D

[ftg]

For me, it's because there is only one Internet. "internet" would seem to imply that there are several of them. It is also specifically named.

[Quartz]

Umm... it is a proper noun in certain circumstances. There's 'the Internet itself' for instance on one hand versus 'an internet connection' on the other.

[Reply]

Because Apple hasn't purchased it yet.

[Sage Rat]

I've never seen, or at least noticed, it to be capitalized. (More likely I didn't notice, since the letter i is quite thin.)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_capitalization_conventions

[Mops]

The Internet is just an instance of the class of internets (i.e. networks of interconnected networks).

[Rigamarole]

We don't write about the Phone Company or the Telephone Company, so why is the internet so honored?

There are lots of phone companies. When it comes to The Internet, there can be only one.

[Jonathan Chance]

Indeed, both AP and Chicago, I'm pretty certain, capitalize it because there is only one. 'Internet' in this instance is a proper noun just as, say, National Football League or Major League Baseball is capitalized. There may be the potential for more than one but at the moment there IS only one.

[Tamex]

But you don't capitalize "radio" or "television" (as in "I heard it on the radio" or "I saw it on television.") Why would you capitalize "I read it on the Internet"?

I've stopped capitalizing it because it looks so old fashioned. I also stopped putting the hyphen in "e-mail" when I noticed everyone else spells it "email".

[RealityChuck]

As others have pointed out -- because there is only one Internet. There are many radio stations or newspapers.

[Tamex]

never mind. What I wrote made no sense. Sorry.

[levdrakon]

A search did not find any threads on this.Found my thread for you! (http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=469290)

[Left Hand of Dorkness]

I'm the opposite: I'm mildly irked when I see internet without the capital I. As others have said, it's a unique and identifiable entity, more akin to Bob than to accountant.

Daniel

[Hunter Hawk]

It still irks me to see Internet with an uppercase I when it is not a proper noun.
It started off as a proper noun in all caps: INTERNET. See also ARPANET, USENET. They were different actual networks with specific names.

[Hunter Hawk]

It started off as a proper noun in all caps: INTERNET.
Y'know, I may well be misremembering the all-caps usage. Anyhoo, if you do a search on "internet history", there should be a multitude of articles that clarify the usage.

[Sage Rat]

As others have pointed out -- because there is only one Internet. There are many radio stations or newspapers.

"I heard it on the radio."

The person does not mean a particular station or his personal radio receiver, he means the generic method of information receipt.

I'd agree that "internet" should probably be capitalized, but I think that it will follow the standard of "radio". It just doesn't have a face. It's too abstract to be thought of as a proper noun.

[commasense]

In my book, it's still Internet, Web site, not website, and e-mail,not email.

[Amp]

Because Apple hasn't purchased it yet.

And when they do it will be the iNternet.

[Tamex]

"I heard it on the radio."

The person does not mean a particular station or his personal radio receiver, he means the generic method of information receipt.

I'd agree that "internet" should probably be capitalized, but I think that it will follow the standard of "radio". It just doesn't have a face. It's too abstract to be thought of as a proper noun.

I don't think it should be capitalized when it is used in this general sense. It is like "radio" and "television"--the name of a medium.

In my book, it's still Internet, Web site, not website, and e-mail,not email.

Is it still "to-day" as well?

[Really Not All That Bright]

Is it still "to-day" as well?
You don't see a significant difference between a linguistic change that happened hundreds of years before your own birth and one that started happening about a decade ago?

[Tamex]

No, not really. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=today&searchmode=none), today was spelled as two words ("to day") until the 16th century and usually "to-day" until the early 20th century. I know I've seen it in old books. Hardly hundreds of years before I was born. The hyphen is disappearing other places as well.

[Rigamarole]

No, not really. According to the Online Etymology Dictionary (http://www.etymonline.com/index.php?search=today&searchmode=none), today was spelled as two words ("to day") until the 16th century and usually "to-day" until the early 20th century. I know I've seen it in old books. Hardly hundreds of years before I was born. The hyphen is disappearing other places as well.

Bart: Please don't call our parents.
Chief Wiggum: I'm afraid I have to for hijinks like these. (laughs) Hijinks. A funny word. Three dotted letters in a row.
Eddie: Is it hyphenated?
Chief Wiggum: It used to be, back in the old days, you know. Of course, every generation hyphenates the way it wants to. Then there's N'SYNC. What the hell is that? Jump in anytime Eddie, these are good topics.

[Caldazar]

"The Internet" is capitalized because you are specifying a specific internet.

A: How did you access that file?
B: Over the internet.
A: Which one?
B. The Internet.

Like tschild points out, an internet is network of networks. The Internet is the most well-known internet.

[commasense]

I use "e-mail" because I don't want my French readers to think I'm referring to enamel.

[Katriona]

In my book, it's still Internet, Web site, not website, and e-mail,not email.

These are what we use at work, per the Microsoft Manual of Style for Technical Publications.

[Sunspace]

I use "e-mail" because I don't want my French readers to think I'm referring to enamel.Yeah, but if you're writing in French, it would be courriel, for courrier électronique 'electronic mail', not 'email'.

(Or is that just a Canada/Québec term?)

[Acsenray]

I use "E-mail," because a letter pronounced as the name of the letter should be capitalized and hyphenated -

A-level
B-ball
C-section
D-day
E-mail
F-stop
G-man
J-school
O-ring
S-curve
T-shirt
U-turn
X-ray
Y-fronts

[commasense]

... a letter pronounced as the name of the letter should be capitalized and hyphenated -When did that E-dict come down? I must have missed it.

And you're certainly wrong (or at least universally contradicted) in the case of f-stop, which often appears with an italic lower-case f.

[Acsenray]

When did that E-dict come down? I must have missed it.

(Looking up at forum) This is IMHO, so it came from me. My opinions don't need authoritative references.

[HumanMonkeyGod]

"The Internet" is capitalized because you are specifying a specific internet.

A: How did you access that file?
B: Over the internet.
A: Which one?
B. The Internet.

Like tschild points out, an internet is network of networks. The Internet is the most well-known internet.

:dubious:
I've never heard of anyone using an internet, or being asked which one they used.

I don't see why the fact that there's one gets it capitalized. Do we live in the Universe? Did you see the Moon last night? etc.

email, x-rays etc. have nothing to do with this. It's not pronounced i-nternet is it? IS IT? :eek:

[Spiny Norman]

:dubious:
I've never heard of anyone using an internet, or being asked which one they used.

On the other hand, "internetworking" is still commonly used in professional literature to describe the work involved in establishing the links and moving data between two or more networks administered by different entities.