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"capitalizing Internet was still justifiable at the time" Given the Internet is a particular thing, shouldn't it still be used as a proper noun?
by Esau 10y ago
"capitalizing Internet was still justifiable at the time"
Given the Internet is a particular thing, shouldn't it still be used as a proper noun?
- akshatpradhan 10y agoAP Style Alert. Internet and web are no longer to be capitalized. Check the googles.
- Esau 10y agoI don't work for the AP so I will continue to capitalize it.
- acheron 10y agoThey are 100% wrong and should not be encouraged.
- walterbell 10y agoLanguage mostly evolves by usage, not mandate.
- kragen 10y agoThat isn't the rule in English; the telephone system is also still a particular thing, as is the ocean, the sky, and the air. What would you think if someone asked you to call them "on the Telephone"?
- AckSyn 10y agoIt is. And it's fairly straightforward: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalization_of_"Internet" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Capitalization_of_"Internet"
- effie 10y agoI think he meant that the name 'Internet' refers to a unique thing, the working global communication network connecting smaller networks of computers. The word 'internet', if it is to be accepted as a word with stable meaning in written language, should then not refer to the unique global network, but to something general, less unique, like the information service the 'Internet' is known to enable. If I saw the name 'Telephone system' with capital T in the middle of a sentence it would be curious, since such a name, in contrast to 'Internet' is extremely uncommon. Nevertheless, if the writer meant a unique system that has this name 'Telephone system', it would be correct to capitalize. However, when somebody asks me "call me on the telephone", they do not refer to unique global telephone system, they just refer to common service, like they would if they said "send it to me by mail" or "you can find it on the internet".