Uncapitalizing The Internet
from the slow-news-week? dept
For a while now it actually has bothered me that the official spelling (at least according to various spell checkers) of "Internet" includes the capital "I". I had thought I was the only person being so anal, so I pretty much ignored it and stuck with the preferred "internet" spelling. However, it seems I'm not the only one. A professor is working on changing the common practice so that internet is spelled with a lower case "i". I think it looks silly with the capitalized I. He thinks that it suggests that the "Internet" is a brand owned by a company. A lower case internet suggests it's just a thing owned by everyone. His reason is better than mine. It seems to be quite a battle shaping up between those who like to leave it lower case and those who feel it still officially requires the capital I.
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It makes a big difference
They likely mangled what Bob Kahn said (I remember talking with him about this in the mid '80s); what they printed isn't inconsistent with the above.
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Actually, given that the government is trying to make some special, "protected" internets, I think this distinction is increasingly important again.
To overanalogise: just because common usage equates "muslim" to "terrorist" doesn't mean I'm willing to go along with it. And on this smaller issue too: a debasement of the language hurts us all.
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Re: It makes a big difference
As for the "debasement" of language, I'd argue that this isn't a debasement, but a modification that is more in tune with popular usage.
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