<html><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div class="">Rules like this fail for two reasons:</div><div class="">- disagreement over the rule itself (English in notorious for its exceptions)</div><div class="">- disagreement over how to apply the rule</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Consider the cases of the “moon” vs. “the White House”?</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">in some cases, capitalization has meaning:</div><div class="">"A White House painting” (i.e., an image constructed of paint displayed inside 1600 Pennsylvania Ave) is different from “a white house painting” (e.g., the application of paint to a white house”.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">in others, capitalization is not used but the definite vs. indefinite article or other cues provide context:</div><div class="">“The moon’s orbit” (of our moon) is different from “a moon’s orbit” (e.g., of a moon around Mars), but that *requires use of a different article* to be clear.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">For the (public) Internet:</div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>capitalization has meaning:</div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>“An Internet user” is different from “an internet user”</div><div class="">but</div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>use of definite vs indefinite article doesn’t:</div><div class=""><span class="Apple-tab-span" style="white-space:pre"> </span>“The internet was attacked” and “an internet was attacked” both refer to what we would call ‘intranets using the Internet protocols”, so use of a definite article doesn’t help.</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">The best argument I have been able to make is that both variants have different, established meanings. </div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">However, AFAICT, news outlets feel that the Internet is becoming positively lunar (looney? ;-)</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">Joe</div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Sep 29, 2018, at 3:02 PM, Richard Bennett <<a href="mailto:richard@bennett.com" class="">richard@bennett.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Cute. I remind the offenders of this rule:<div class=""><br class=""></div><div class=""><div id="article_intro" style="line-height: 16px !important;" class=""><p style="font-size: 15px !important; line-height: 24px !important;" class="">Although capitalization rules can be a bit tricky, rules for capitalizing <a href="http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/parts-of-speech/nouns/Types-of-Nouns.html" style="line-height: 24px !important;" class="">proper nouns</a> are pretty straightforward. First, though, it's important to understand the difference between <em style="line-height: 24px !important;" class="">common nouns</em> and <em style="line-height: 24px !important;" class="">proper nouns</em>. </p><ul style="line-height: 25.6px !important;" class=""> <li style="font-size: 15px !important; line-height: 24px !important;" class="">Common
nouns are the general names of people, places, and things. These types
of nouns are usually not capitalized (unless they begin a sentence or
are part of a title). </li> </ul><ul style="line-height: 25.6px !important;" class=""> <li style="font-size: 15px !important; line-height: 24px !important;" class="">Proper
nouns are the names of a specific person, place, or thing. The basic
capitalization rule of proper nouns is that the first letters are
capitalized. </li> </ul></div><div class=""><a href="http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/capitalization/rules-for-capitalizing-proper-nouns.html" class="">http://grammar.yourdictionary.com/capitalization/rules-for-capitalizing-proper-nouns.html</a></div><div class=""><br class=""></div><div class="">RB</div><div class=""><br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><div class="">On Sep 29, 2018, at 3:47 PM, Brian E Carpenter <<a href="mailto:brian.e.carpenter@gmail.com" class="">brian.e.carpenter@gmail.com</a>> wrote:</div><br class="Apple-interchange-newline"><div class=""><div class="">Dear Noel,<br class=""><br class="">(Cc:s intentionally intact)<br class=""><br class="">I think you should have addressed your letter to "Dear science news editors".<br class="">Clearly, if the Internet doesn't need to be capitalised, neither does<br class="">"Science News". For that matter, you could write a similar letter to the<br class="">editor of the economist, or of the times.<br class=""><br class="">Regards<br class=""> Brian Carpenter<br class=""><br class="">On 2018-09-30 03:12, Noel Chiappa wrote:<br class=""><blockquote type="cite" class=""><br class="">Dear Science News editors:<br class=""><br class="">I was extremely saddened to see, in the latest issue of 'Science News', that<br class="">you all have apparently succumbed to the fashion of using 'internet' to refer<br class="">to the Internet. While I expect to see this sort of error in general<br class="">publications, it's most unfortunate to see a magazine focused on technical<br class="">matters make the same mistake.<br class=""><br class="">Let me explain.<br class=""><br class="">An 'internet' is a generally, and widely, accepted technical term for a<br class="">collection of disparate physical networks (fiber optic links, wireless<br class="">network, Ethernets, etc) connected together with a particular type of packet<br class="">switch, called 'routers'. (There are other kinds of packet switch, but they<br class="">have mostly fallen into desuetude now.)<br class=""><br class="">The 'Internet' is the massive internet to which most people of the world now<br class="">have access. (See how that sentence doesn't make sense without distinguishing<br class="">one with the capital?)<br class=""><br class="">There are, however, still many other internets, which are not connected to the<br class="">Internet. (Google "air gap" if you aren't aware of this - and again, the<br class="">different spelling is crucial to the sentenced being comprehensible.)<br class=""><br class="">The people who invented internets, and the Internet, carefully chose to use<br class="">the capital precisely to distinguish between the two. (I recall the<br class="">discussion.) The Internet Engineering Task Force, the body responsible for the<br class="">technical specifications for internets and the Internet, continues to use that<br class="">distinction.<br class=""><br class="">Just as there are many 'white houses', but only one 'White House', there is an<br class="">important distinction between 'internet(s)' and the 'Internet'.<br class=""><br class="">So I hope you will update your editorial guidlines to note that the term for<br class="">_the_ Internet is spelled with a capital.<br class=""><br class=""> Noel<br class="">_______<br class="">internet-history mailing list<br class=""><a href="mailto:internet-history@postel.org" class="">internet-history@postel.org</a><br class=""><a href="http://mailman.postel.org/mailman/listinfo/internet-history" class="">http://mailman.postel.org/mailman/listinfo/internet-history</a><br class="">Contact list-owner@postel.org for assistance.<br class="">.<br class=""><br class=""></blockquote>_______<br class="">internet-history mailing list<br class=""><a href="mailto:internet-history@postel.org" class="">internet-history@postel.org</a><br class=""><a href="http://mailman.postel.org/mailman/listinfo/internet-history" class="">http://mailman.postel.org/mailman/listinfo/internet-history</a><br class="">Contact list-owner@postel.org for assistance.<br class=""></div></div></blockquote></div><br class=""><div class="">
<div style="letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">—<br class=""><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Richard Bennett<br class=""><a href="http://hightechforum.org/" class="">High Tech Forum</a> Founder</div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Ethernet & Wi-Fi standards co-creator</div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class=""><br class=""></div><div style="word-wrap: break-word; -webkit-nbsp-mode: space; -webkit-line-break: after-white-space;" class="">Internet Policy Consultant</div></div></div>
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<br class=""></div></div>_______<br class="">internet-history mailing list<br class=""><a href="mailto:internet-history@postel.org" class="">internet-history@postel.org</a><br class="">http://mailman.postel.org/mailman/listinfo/internet-history<br class="">Contact list-owner@postel.org for assistance.<br class=""></div></blockquote></div><br class=""></div></body></html>