# 'internet' or 'Internet' **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 17, 2006, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-or-internet/357145 "2006-05-17T18:51:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 13\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ea\_calendula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Ea\_calendula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ea_calendula)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-or-internet/357145/1 "2006-05-17T18:51:54Z")
I would like to know if the correct/official spelling of the ‘Internet’ - in English - is with or without capital ‘I’? AFAIK there’s still only one Internet, and I think it should be with ‘I’, but I can’t find any definite answer. It’s a bit of a pet peeve for me in Danish, because I know for certain that it is ‘Internet’, but in English… (I know there might be differences between UK and US English). ---
**Author:** ![FatBaldGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecd19e/32.png) [@FatBaldGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FatBaldGuy)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-or-internet/357145/2 "2006-05-17T18:56:01Z")
From [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=internet) > [@](#): > > internet > > \ (Note: capital “I”). The Internet is the largest > internet (with a small “i”) in the world. It is a three > level hierarchy composed of backbone networks, mid-level > networks, and stub networks. These include commercial > (.com or .co), university (.ac or .edu) and other research > networks (.org, .net) and military (.mil) networks and span > many different physical networks around the world with various > protocols, chiefly the Internet Protocol. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-or-internet/357145/3 "2006-05-17T18:56:44Z")
The GPO Style Manual – one of the best – says Internet is capitalized. AFAIK, that’s the standard, since there is only one Internet. Once Internet2 somes along, things may change. ---
**Author:** ![Garfield226](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9e8a1a/32.png) [@Garfield226](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Garfield226)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-or-internet/357145/4 "2006-05-17T19:05:37Z")
The Associated Press capitalizes Internet as well. Interestingly (to me, at least) e-mail is lowercased (and hyphenated), and Web site is capitalized as written. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-or-internet/357145/5 "2006-05-17T19:12:45Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > The GPO Style Manual – one of the best – says Internet is capitalized. > > AFAIK, that’s the standard, since there is only one Internet. Once Internet2 somes along, things may change. Yes. As previously mentioned, a small-i internet is any grouping of computer networks conencted together. Networks may only be connected together as separate entities, rather than merged into one entity, because of different network technologies, addressing schemes, ownerships, security requirements, needs for trafflic flow regulation, etc. _The_ Internet, with a capital I, is that well-known internet through which we are discussing this subject. ---
**Author:** ![Ea\_calendula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Ea\_calendula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ea_calendula)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 7:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-or-internet/357145/6 "2006-05-17T19:21:14Z")
> [@FatBaldGuy](#): > > From [dictionary.com > …](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=internet) Thanks very much 🙂 Clearly, I must have dropped my brain somewhere without noticing or lost my ability to read, because [Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com) was one of the first places I checked :smack: ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-or-internet/357145/7 "2006-05-17T19:35:52Z")
> [@Garfield226](#): > > The Associated Press capitalizes Internet as well. Interestingly (to me, at least) e-mail is lowercased (and hyphenated), and Web site is capitalized as written. The rationale behind “Web site” is probably that it is shorthand for “a site on the World Wide Web.” Since “e” is for “electronic,” I think it makes more sense for it to be lowercased. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-or-internet/357145/8 "2006-05-17T20:16:38Z")
Here is a post that has another cite from a technical book bolstering the dictionary definition given above. The thread is only tangentially related to the spelling issue so I just linked the one post. [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=6656745&postcount=27](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=6656745&postcount=27) ---
**Author:** ![Ea\_calendula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/b5e925/32.png) [@Ea\_calendula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ea_calendula)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 8:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-or-internet/357145/9 "2006-05-17T20:32:50Z")
Now I’m getting curious. Does the term ‘intranet’ hold any meaning to you? Since that is what I would call a local network; say the local network of a firm. Or would that be ‘an internet’? ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-or-internet/357145/10 "2006-05-17T21:02:44Z")
> [@Ea\_calendula](#): > > Now I’m getting curious. Does the term ‘intranet’ hold any meaning to you? Since that is what I would call a local network; say the local network of a firm. Or would that be ‘an internet’? An intranet is a network entirely within an organization. Often it is only accessible to members of the organization as well. It always struck me as being more of a high-level marketing term than a precise low-level technical term, because there is nothing preventing an organization’s intranet from being an internet as well, depending on how its components are configured. Where I work, the term “intranet” is usually contrasted with the worldwide Internet, in a way that speaks more of high-level permissions rather than the technical construction of the infrastructure. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 9:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-or-internet/357145/11 "2006-05-17T21:26:38Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > Since “e” is for “electronic,” I think it makes more sense for it to be lowercased. If it were up to me, I would capitalise it along the models of U-turn, T-shirt, I-beam, A-line, D-list, etc. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 9:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-or-internet/357145/12 "2006-05-17T21:27:58Z")
C-rations, D-day, F-stop, J-school … ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/internet-or-internet/357145/13 "2006-05-17T22:32:33Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > C-rations, D-day, F-stop, J-school … “F-stop” is not capitalized. “C-ration” may be capitalized, but is lowercase on [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com). “D-day” refers to a specific day, so properly ought to be capitalized. “J-School” I can go either way on. In the examples in your previous post, the letters refer to the shapes (U-turn, T-shirt, etc.), or to the letter itself (D-list), and thus are properly capitalized. I feel “e-mail” should be lowercase to follow examples like “f-stop” and “c-ration.” Heck, I’m actually all for “email” as a single word. It irked me at first, but now after seeing it everywhere and using it, I like it.