Internet, Web Enjoy One Final Day As Proper Nouns (go.com)

An anonymous reader writes: The Internet and Web will be downgraded to "internet" and "web" tomorrow with the new edition of the AP Stylebook. Therefore, today marks their last day as proper nouns. The AP Stylebook is a manual that many journalists follow, offering a comprehensive guide to the usage of words, style, spelling and punctuation. "The argument for lowercasing Internet is that is has become wholly generic, like electricity and the telephone. It never was trademarked and is not based on any proper noun," writes Tom Kent, AP Standards Editor. "The best reason for capitalizing it in the past may have been that the term was new. At one point, we understand, 'Phonograph' was capitalized." The two names will join the likes of website (formerly Web site) and email (formerly e-mail).

Comments

I've never much cared for the AP guidelines

[Red_Chaos1]

This does not make sense to me. It's not just "a" Internet or "a" Web, they are "the" Internet and "the" Web. Unlike the Phonograph, there are not multiple vendors and multiple versions. It's all one very unique thing.

Par for the course

[Solandri]

"The argument for lowercasing Internet is that is has become wholly generic, like electricity and the telephone. It never was trademarked and is not based on any proper noun," writes Tom Kent, AP Standards Editor. "The best reason for capitalizing it in the past may have been that the term was new.

Bozos like this is why general press coverage of technical and scientific stories still sucks. Rather than ask someone who knows for their informed opinion, they think they already know everything so can make decisions without having to ask.

• An internet is any collection of interconnected networks. If a company connects its Los Angeles branch LAN with its New York branch LAN so they can share files, they now have an internet.
• The Internet is the biggest grouping of such interconnected networks, which happens to span the globe (it didn't always). It is capitalized to distinguish it from other internets.

Lowercasing 'Internet' makes about as much sense as lowercasing Associated Press, because the AP used to be new, but now there are several other associations of press corps.

Re:typical commenter

[phantomfive]

Wikipedia articles are that much better/reliable than Facebook posts?!

YES