Document text
AP style capitalizes Internet Why is it the style of newspapers -- and even my spell-checker -- to capitalize the word "Internet?" Not a proper name, not a brand name, certainly not a country? -- Lyn H., Buncom The easy answer, Lyn, is also a cop-out: Because everyone else does. But lest we at the Mail Tribune sound like irresponsible folk who take English usage lightly (perish the thought), we do have an authority. "The Associated Press Stylebook," our first source for usage questions, says Internet is capitalized. In typical AP Stylebook fashion, it does not elaborate. On the Internet, where naturally we turned for guidance, we found several descriptions of what the Internet is. None discussed the origin of the word. Even a piece titled "Short History of the Internet" simply started using the word, capitalized, while discussing the separate computer networks that evolved into what we know as the Internet. The online version of Merriam-Webster's "Tenth New Collegiate Dictionary" lists the word as capitalized, without elaboration, and dates it 1987. We found a reference from the "Chicago Manual of Style," which bills itself as the world's most widely used guide to style and usage, in which a reader asked where its editors stood on capitalizing "Internet" and "Web site." The response: "CMS has not established a standard, but is waiting a while for the dust to settle on these questions. For now, most of us prefer to uppercase Internet and Web in all instances. ..." We at the MT would argue that the word is a proper noun by default because virtually (pardon the pun) everyone uses it as one. The word itself -- the name for the worldwide computer network that allows instantaneous communication of data -- probably was coined by someone who thought it a good name for what was essentially a network of networks. The networks it evolved from were called ARPANET and NSFNET, acronyms for Advanced Research Projects Agency and National Science Foundation. Perhaps people just got used to seeing capitalized names for networks, so Internet seemed to make sense. (Send your questions to "Since You Asked," Mail Tribune Newsroom, P.O. Box 1108, Medford, OR 97501; or by fax to (541) 776-4376; or by e-mail to: [email protected] Please include your name, address and phone number for verification.) Today's News Index Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA