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It's the internet, not the Internet!

majordude

majordude

macrumors 68020
Original poster
Apr 28, 2007
2,443
75
Hootersville
The internet is media, like the radio, television or a book. And some say it's a place like a library or movie theater.

Either way, we don't listen to the Radio, Television or read a Book. We don't go to the Library or Movie Theater.

The "Internet" was valid in 1995. Now it's just the internet.
 
r.j.s said:
I haven't checked the 2012 AP Stylebook, but, it is actually, the Internet.
Click to expand...

Correct. It was "the Internet" back when and still is today. You won't catch everyone stylizing it correctly (I'd dare say that most don't) but the capitalization is still proper.
 
majordude said:
The internet is media, like the radio, television or a book. And some say it's a place like a library or movie theater.

Either way, we don't listen to the Radio, Television or read a Book. We don't go to the Library or Movie Theater.

The "Internet" was valid in 1995. Now it's just the internet.
Click to expand...

That's ok, there was also the ARPAnet and DECnet.

Computer Scientists just don't give a crap about English. ;)
 
If you are bothered by capitalization of the word ?nternet, you need to seriously take some time off. And/or seek some professional help.

Go to the ?nternet and Google "therapist".

;)
 
There's a reason for the capitalization :

The Internet standards community has historically differentiated between the Internet and an internet (or internetwork), the first being treated as a proper noun with a capital letter, and the latter as a common noun with lower-case first letter. An internet is any internetwork or inter-connected Internet Protocol networks. The distinction is evident in a large number of the Request for Comments documents from the early 1980s, when the transition from the ARPANET to the Internet was in progress, although it was not applied with complete uniformity.[1][2]

Another example is IBM's TCP/IP Tutorial and Technical Overview (ISBN 0-7384-2165-0) from 1989, which stated that:

The words internetwork and internet is [sic] simply a contraction of the phrase interconnected network. However, when written with a capital "I", the Internet refers to the worldwide set of interconnected networks. Hence, the Internet is an internet, but the reverse does not apply. The Internet is sometimes called the connected Internet.
Click to expand...

There you go, the more you know.
 
majordude said:
The internet is media, like the radio, television or a book. And some say it's a place like a library or movie theater.

Either way, we don't listen to the Radio, Television or read a Book. We don't go to the Library or Movie Theater.

The "Internet" was valid in 1995. Now it's just the internet.
Click to expand...
It's capitalized because it's a proper noun, i.e. a name. "The Internet" is the name given to the entire world-wide network made of smaller internets.

----------
Fazzy said:
Oh, and we say TV, so why not Internet?
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We say "TV" because it's an abbreviation of the word "television". Abbreviations that are reduced to letters that do not form true words are properly written in all caps to signify same.
 
I am so relieved that someone has cleared all of this up for me and I can now move forwards with my life. I love how these threads put everything into perspective for me. Moving right along.
 
Maybe this will help understand....now, this is according to Wired's style manual:

- "internet" is two or more different networks joined together.

- "Internet" is...well, THE Internet.

So "internet" vs. "Internet" isn't just a matter of style and spelling: they're different things all together.
 
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