Topic: Why do people say "the internet" when it's "the Internet"?

Anonymous 64f6e60383aada21f411c1acfbfc354b started this discussion 3 months (2008-09-04 18:51:52 UTC) ago:

This pisses me off. An internet is different from the Internet.

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Anonymous 309f495108a7be5ca165a7c84988856b replied with this 3 months (2008-09-04 19:11:22 UTC) ago, 20 minutes later (#57,457):

Well, most people don't even know that there are multiple 'internets'. I guess that they don't view it as a proper noun.

Anonymous 9b4f9b6c04e9c748e046ebd9d4d98160 replied with this 3 months (2008-09-04 22:31:57 UTC) ago, 3 hours later (#57,517):

Why is this different from "A house" and "The house"?

Anonymous 388dc754f38c826507a5e8d39c7a6736 replied with this 3 months (2008-09-04 22:36:45 UTC) ago, 5 minutes later (#57,519):

Very few people outside of the IT world know that there's a distinction between them. Hell, a lot of people still call their monitors 'the computer,' after all.

Anonymous 309f495108a7be5ca165a7c84988856b replied with this 3 months (2008-09-04 23:06:40 UTC) ago, 30 minutes later (#57,528):

@57,517

> Why is this different from "A house" and "The house"?

I don't understand. There's nothing wrong with either "A house" or "The house".

Anonymous fa11979bfe1e855f5331bd67d5c4b104 replied with this 3 months (2008-09-04 23:33:12 UTC) ago, 27 minutes later (#57,534):

Don't be such a pussy. The internet doesn't need a capital, and for that matter, email doesn't need a hyphen.

Anonymous 64f6e60383aada21f411c1acfbfc354b (OP) replied with this 3 months (2008-09-04 23:40:32 UTC) ago, 7 minutes later (#57,536):

@57,534

… shut up.

Anonymous a445cde1ff97e3b9ecaaaa40c469dac5 replied with this 3 months (2008-09-05 01:06:03 UTC) ago, 1 hour later (#57,559):

Isn't grammar a personal preference on the Internet these days? I, myself, use mostly proper grammer, but I could care less what other people do. As long as it's legible, and doesn't contain numbers as words, I'm happy.

Anonymous 64f6e60383aada21f411c1acfbfc354b (OP) replied with this 3 months (2008-09-05 01:13:55 UTC) ago, 8 minutes later (#57,562):

@57,559

> I could care less

So you do care?

Anonymous a445cde1ff97e3b9ecaaaa40c469dac5 replied with this 3 months (2008-09-05 01:20:36 UTC) ago, 7 minutes later (#57,564):

@57,562

Yes, but only a little. ;)
EXAMPLE: lul i sopwnd u fuckf8c (is NOT acceptable)

Also, I'm only human. :P

Anonymous 9b4f9b6c04e9c748e046ebd9d4d98160 replied with this 3 months (2008-09-05 11:48:21 UTC) ago, 10 hours later (#57,669):

@57,528

Exactly. I don't see why the internet needs to have a capital "I", as it isn't wrong not to capitalize it.

Anonymous 64f6e60383aada21f411c1acfbfc354b (OP) replied with this 3 months (2008-09-05 13:57:23 UTC) ago, 2 hours later (#57,680):

@57,528

Wow. Just… wow. You can't be serious.

Anonymous 64f6e60383aada21f411c1acfbfc354b (OP) replied with this 3 months (2008-09-05 13:58:22 UTC) ago, 59 seconds later (#57,681):

@57,669

Yes, it is fucking wrong. That's the God damn point! Are you really this stupid?

Anonymous 7837388e6ea8aaec77cea2301af76c2f replied with this 3 months (2008-09-05 20:32:43 UTC) ago, 7 hours later (#57,746):

OP, could you provide proof that the word is indeed a proper noun and not simply a noun suffering from random capitalization?

Anonymous 3eb08a01160bd8e83971fed288ded583 replied with this 3 months (2008-09-05 22:12:52 UTC) ago, 2 hours later (#57,770):

An internet is any network of LANs and MANs. The Internet grew out of ARPAnet. It's THE Internet.

Anonymous 69123f865a2a168bb0c868a633869947 replied with this 3 months (2008-09-06 04:59:07 UTC) ago, 7 hours later (#57,853):

Don't be a jackass. Just because there is one of it doesn't mean that it MUST have a capital.

Anonymous 64f6e60383aada21f411c1acfbfc354b (OP) replied with this 3 months (2008-09-07 01:40:12 UTC) ago, 21 hours later (#58,066):

@57,853

What the fuck are you driveling about?

Anonymous d8c4ead6dca8fa5b231f0c26af51815a replied with this 3 months (2008-09-07 08:11:49 UTC) ago, 7 hours later (#58,111):

@57,770

Wouldn't a LAN just be an intranet?
I never quite understood this. :/

Anonymous 7837388e6ea8aaec77cea2301af76c2f replied with this 3 months (2008-09-07 08:17:44 UTC) ago, 6 minutes later (#58,113):

But if people are incorrect in using "the internet" instead of "the Internet" are they also incorrect in using "the world" instead of "the World"? Should "the universe" really be "the Universe"? I have yet to be presented with any evidence that "the Internet" is sufficiently distinguished from any other network to be credited as a proper noun.

Anonymous d8c4ead6dca8fa5b231f0c26af51815a replied with this 3 months (2008-09-07 08:28:30 UTC) ago, 11 minutes later (#58,116):

Hmm. The last post made me think.
The internet is just a very large network.
So, should a very large school becalled 'the School', whil a smaller school is called 'a school'?

Also, does it really even matter?
Wether or not it's correct isn't going to make anyone start capitalizing it, and others stop.

Anonymous 1999cd12f4e73771845f29473f7b7afc replied with this 3 months (2008-09-08 07:59:41 UTC) ago, 24 hours later (#58,424):

AnonTalk BBS

Topic: Why do people say "the internet" when it's "the Internet"?