# Why still uppercase I for internet? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [March 8, 2009, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-still-uppercase-i-for-internet/488766 "2009-03-08T21:31:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![KlondikeGeoff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3e96dc/32.png) [@KlondikeGeoff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/KlondikeGeoff)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-still-uppercase-i-for-internet/488766/1 "2009-03-08T21:31:46Z")
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? 😃 ---
**Author:** ![ftg](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ftg/32/2801_2.png) [@ftg](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ftg)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 9:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-still-uppercase-i-for-internet/488766/2 "2009-03-08T21:51:21Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Quartz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/quartz/32/267_2.png) [@Quartz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quartz)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-still-uppercase-i-for-internet/488766/3 "2009-03-08T21:56:05Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Reply](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/reply/32/15952_2.png) [@Reply](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reply)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-still-uppercase-i-for-internet/488766/4 "2009-03-08T22:18:20Z")
Because Apple hasn’t purchased it yet. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-still-uppercase-i-for-internet/488766/5 "2009-03-08T22:29:16Z")
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.) > **[Capitalization of Internet](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_capitalization_conventions)** > > Orthographic conventions have varied over time, and vary by publishers, authors, and regional preferences, on whether and when Internet should be capitalized. When the Internet first came into common use, most publications treated Internet as a capitalized proper noun, but this has become less common. This reflects the tendency in English to capitalize new terms and move them to lowercase as they become familiar. The word is sometimes still capitalized to distinguish the global internet from smal... ---
**Author:** ![Mops](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mops/32/16494_2.png) [@Mops](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mops)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 10:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-still-uppercase-i-for-internet/488766/6 "2009-03-08T22:30:21Z")
The Internet is just an instance of the class of internets (i.e. networks of interconnected networks). ---
**Author:** ![Rigamarole](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/77aa72/32.png) [@Rigamarole](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rigamarole)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-still-uppercase-i-for-internet/488766/7 "2009-03-08T23:42:24Z")
> [@KlondikeGeoff](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Jonathan\_Chance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jonathan_chance/32/701_2.png) [@Jonathan\_Chance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jonathan_Chance)\ **Post date:** [March 8, 2009, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-still-uppercase-i-for-internet/488766/8 "2009-03-08T23:47:38Z")
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. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 12:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-still-uppercase-i-for-internet/488766/9 "2009-03-09T00:31:50Z")
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”. ---
**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:** [March 9, 2009, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-still-uppercase-i-for-internet/488766/10 "2009-03-09T00:43:06Z")
As others have pointed out – because there is only one Internet. There are many radio stations or newspapers. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-still-uppercase-i-for-internet/488766/11 "2009-03-09T00:49:48Z")
never mind. What I wrote made no sense. Sorry. ---
**Author:** ![levdrakon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/49beb7/32.png) [@levdrakon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/levdrakon)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 1:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-still-uppercase-i-for-internet/488766/12 "2009-03-09T01:18:06Z")
> [@KlondikeGeoff](#): > > A search did not find any threads on this. [Found my thread for you!](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=469290) ---
**Author:** ![Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/left_hand_of_dorkness/32/7156_2.png) [@Left\_Hand\_of\_Dorkness](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Left_Hand_of_Dorkness)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 1:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-still-uppercase-i-for-internet/488766/13 "2009-03-09T01:26:14Z")
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 ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 1:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-still-uppercase-i-for-internet/488766/14 "2009-03-09T01:32:06Z")
> [@KlondikeGeoff](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Hunter\_Hawk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/50afbb/32.png) [@Hunter\_Hawk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hunter_Hawk)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-still-uppercase-i-for-internet/488766/15 "2009-03-09T01:39:27Z")
> [@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. ---
**Author:** ![Sage\_Rat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sage_rat/32/399_2.png) [@Sage\_Rat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sage_Rat)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 2:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-still-uppercase-i-for-internet/488766/16 "2009-03-09T02:36:38Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![commasense](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/commasense/32/3017_2.png) [@commasense](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/commasense)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-still-uppercase-i-for-internet/488766/17 "2009-03-09T02:50:19Z")
In my book, it’s still Internet, Web site, not website, and e-mail,not email. ---
**Author:** ![Amp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/6a8cbe/32.png) [@Amp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Amp)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 2:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-still-uppercase-i-for-internet/488766/18 "2009-03-09T02:50:48Z")
> [@Reply](#): > > Because Apple hasn’t purchased it yet. And when they do it will be the iNternet. ---
**Author:** ![Tamex](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ccd318/32.png) [@Tamex](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tamex)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 3:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-still-uppercase-i-for-internet/488766/19 "2009-03-09T03:04:45Z")
> [@Sage\_Rat](#): > > “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. > [@commasense](#): > > In my book, it’s still Internet, Web site, not website, and e-mail,not email. Is it still “to-day” as well? ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [March 9, 2009, 3:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-still-uppercase-i-for-internet/488766/20 "2009-03-09T03:07:33Z")
> [@Tamex](#): > > 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? [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-still-uppercase-i-for-internet/488766.md?page=2)