Internet or internet? Should we capitalise the internet?
Whether or not to capitalise the word ‘internet’ provokes occasional debate. I used to capitalise and then Wired announced that they were not going to do so, I changed too. I figured they knew. However, I still see it capitalised in mainstream magazines and some clients insist on capitalising it.
For capitalising Internet
- It’s a kind of place and places are proper nouns that get capitalised.
- Lots of other people do it.
- There are lots of internets (networks of networks) but only one Internet.
- According to Wikipedia (not a wholly reliable source) The New York Times, Associated Press, Communications of the ACM and Time capitalise.
Against capitalising internet
- Capital letters are speed bumps for the eyes when reading. Like unnecessary punctuation, they should be eliminated where possible. (Some clients like to capitalise all Nouns and especially Multi-Word Nouns. Maybe they are German.)
- As Wired says “That it transformed human communication is beyond dispute. But no more so than moveable type did in its day. Or the radio. Or television.”
- According to Wikipedia, The Economist, The Financial Times and The Times do not capitalise.
My instinct is that the trend is towards the lower case. Certainly, that’s my preference. Welcome to the internet.
Sherrilynne Starkie wrote:
I blogged about this very subject last year. A lively debate ensued…http://strivepr.com/wordpress/2007/08/10/capitalisation-of-the-internet/
Posted on 28-Apr-08 at 7:00 am | Permalink
Peter wrote:
If we only think of The Internet as a medium, as Wired seems to do, then it would make sense to use lower-case. E.g. “internet broadcast” (without that all important “The”). But The Internet is also an entity, like The World or The Borg, and in that context it should most certainly be capitalised.
Wired’s analogy is broken. “The radio” is a class of device, whereas “radio” is a medium. Compare:
movable type — the book
radio — the radio
television — the television set
The Internet — the home computer
I don’t consider Wired an authoritative source on *anything*.
There are also historical reasons for capitalising. The term “internet” originated as an abbreviation for “inter-network”, meaning two or more networks hooked up together to act as if they are one. Under this obsolete usage, a Wi-Fi laptop talking through a Wi-Fi / Ethernet hub to a PC on an Ethernet cable would be termed an inter-network, or an internet. The Internet was the proper noun for an internet with special status, just like, say, The Pill or The War.
Posted on 28-Apr-08 at 11:55 am | Permalink
David Bradley wrote:
Do we capitalise the “world”? I don’t think I do. I’d capitalize the Earth, cos that’s a proper noun. Capitalizing the internet, is like capitalizing “the Sky”. That said, I just follow client housestyle or is that HouseStyle?
db
Posted on 28-Apr-08 at 3:31 pm | Permalink
Jonathan Sumner wrote:
Hmm. Some very good comments from the above. However, from a purely *subjective* perspective, I don’t think that the Internet has become (in its relatively short life) as mainstream as, for example, books, radio or television. That is why I still tend to capitalise the Internet in all my client-related copy … as well as in my personal e-mails/texts and even in my “snail mail” letters!. However, I take your point, Matthew, about the concept of “speed bumps”, which (from past experience) I recall are especially prevalent in legal literature (eg the Company, the Firm, the Contract, the Partners etc!) Incidentally, has anybody posted on this website (or elsewhere) about their views on the correct use of “e-mail” (ie with or without a hyphen and with or without capitilisation)? Personally I prefer lower case, but with the hyphen.
Posted on 29-Apr-08 at 1:11 am | Permalink
Dan wrote:
I’m down with the Internet crew. I love a good capital, it makes me feel like I’m writing about something important…
Most media theorists use the capital, it’s the norm in academic work. But then again, who takes language lessons from the outcasts of academia? Hmmm.
Posted on 29-Apr-08 at 9:21 pm | Permalink
Meryl Evans wrote:
I used to capitalize it all the time even after Wired declared it would stop capitalizing it. Lately, I’ve been working with several clients who don’t capitalize it and find myself not capitalizing it much.
I think the key is to be consistent within a web site, brochure, book, etc.
Posted on 30-Apr-08 at 12:13 am | Permalink
The internet at Rage on Omnipotent wrote:
[...] a lowercase person. Unlike [...]
Posted on 30-Apr-08 at 5:40 pm | Permalink