Internet or internet in English and Spanish?
I just saw this answer by pesta:
In English, we say "the Internet" (also should be capital "I", by the way). - pesta
In Spanish this used to be the case, actually, there is a reference article on DRAE where they still say that.
en el uso mayoritario de todo el ámbito hispánico, se escribe con mayúscula inicial y sin artículo
However on the dictionary, the entrance has changed:
Artículo nuevo.
Avance de la vigésima tercera edición
internet.
- amb. Red informática mundial, descentralizada, formada por la conexión directa entre computadoras u ordenadores mediante un protocolo especial de comunicación.
ORTOGR. Escr. t. con may. inicial.
It is still indicated that the typical spelling is with initial caps, but the word has been adapted to everyday use, where most people spell it with an initial lower case.
Will this happen in English? I actually didn't know it had to be spelled with caps, hmmmm.
How do you normally write it?
By the way, I just saw this:
Concise Oxford Spanish Dictionary © 2009 Oxford University Press:
Internet /inter?ne/ sustantivo masculino: el ~ the Internet
This is not the accepted article to be used, it should be "la internet":
Si se usa precedido de artículo u otro determinante, es preferible usar las formas femeninas (la, una, etc.),
13 Answers
I have no idea what the correct usage is, it is such a new word who has a right to decide what is correct? Surely with a new word it is normal usage that is correct and I usually see it written as the internet, no capital letter.
I have asked some of my OU friends who have an interest in language. I will be interested in what they say.
I think it will eventually lose the capital and most longtime users of the net stopped capitalizing it long ago, if they ever did.
Several useful opinions so far. Most people just say they write the internet, lower case i. I thought you might be interested in these replies.
1. It depends on your perception of it. If you're talking about it as an entity, there is only one Internet and it is therefore a proper noun so should be capitalised. However, most people think of the internet as a process, a means for communication, rather than talking about the "thing" that is actually the Internet. Hence, lower case, such as telephone, newspaper etc.
2. The Inventor of the web (Sir Tim) says it should have a capital as its ever evolving and adapting
3. I am normally a grammar fascist but see it as a normal noun with no need for a capital letter.
4. I also see it as a common noun.
In English, any word that is a proper noun should be capitalized. So the question arises, "What is a proper noun?"
Nouns name people, places, and things. Every noun can further be classified as common or proper. A proper noun has two distinctive features: 1) it will name a specific [usually a one-of-a-kind] item, and 2) it will begin with a capital letter no matter where it occurs in a sentence.
So, considering this definition, the word "internet" should be capitalized. However, I have seen it written both ways. I believe that I have seen it written with a lower case more often than the other way around. It is confusing. When you think about it, it isn't a person, a place or even a concrete thing.
I always see it written with the article "the".
I am looking forward to seeing what others have to say. 
Wikipedia has an article that agrees with my understanding of the word and the technology:
Internet capitalization conventions
It discusses both sides of the argument.
The words internetwork and internet is [sic] simply a contraction of the phrase interconnected network. However, when written with a capital "I", the Internet refers to the worldwide set of interconnected networks. Hence, the Internet is an internet, but the reverse does not apply. The Internet is sometimes called the connected Internet.
The Internet/internet distinction fell out of common use after the Internet Protocol Suite was widely deployed in commercial networks in the 1990s
Hmmm, well, it seems people do not agree on this.
this is one answer:
This is what they say:
internet (??nt??n?t) (sometimes with a capital)
On answers.com they clearly state it with a capital "I"
has a capital I.
Hola Heidi:
Yo escucho habitualmente "internet", sin artículo, y entonces también lo digo así:
Busqué en internet
Si tengo que ponerle un artículo, por algún motivo tanto la internet como el internet me suenan mal. Entonces digo:
Busqué en la red.
Y con respecto a la inicial, tengo tendencia a escribirlo con mayúscula, pero a veces lo escribo con minúscula, no sé por qué.
Some more responses from my OU friends.
You wouldn't say the Post has arrived, or I've received an Email... the internet is not a country or a place, that's the whole point of it. I don't ever refer to world-wide-web but I wouldn't capitalise that either.
It started of as being accepted that it was capitalised... but over the last few years that's changed and now 'internet' is perfectly acceptable - which is why when I worked on T171 it was 'Internet'... and by the time T175 had come along... it became 'internet'. (T171 and T175 are OU computing modules: T171=You, Your Computer and the Net T175= Networked living: Exploring Information and Communication Technologies)
I can imagine all new fangled things have been over the years, like The Radio, or a Television Set! Not so long ago, we always used a hyphen in e-mail.
Because it was 'the Internet' and 'internet' was short for the more generic form of 'internetworks' so they referred to different things. However, since they now broadly refer to a method of communication, I believe that's why it's landed up as being just internet.
I would have guessed it to be a proper noun that needs a capital, but it never seems to have one, so I don't use a capital I for it.
The consensus seems to be that it did have a capital I but it isn't usually used any more.
@ Heidita
True, we do not have a DRAE. However, there are several ways to get an "authoritive" answer.
(1) So far on this thread MaryMcc has cited the most authoritative sources.
Although helpful, Wikipedia is usually not considered as authoritative as say, dictionaries, etc.
(2) Although dictionaries usually rule in a discussion of this type, they may actually differ. In which case, you use on of two additional methods:
(3) There are what are called "style manuals," for example The Chicago Manual of Style. So, once a manual is agreed upon, just as with the DRAE, the latest edition would be the most authoritative.
(4) A professional lexicographer is the next option. These are actually the people who update dictionaries. During the process of updating a dictionary, lexicographers often disagree with one another when it comes to words and terms which are just entering the language. The final authority among lexicographers is usually checking respected publications and informal writing to determine which usage is most prevalent.
So, at least among those who speak North American English, you can see it is rather a "democratic process." The final determination is the well-educated majority.
And this thread is an excellent example of that process in action
I don't think I have ever seen "internet" capitalised, unless it is at the beginning of a sentence, of course. I'm sure I'd remember it, because it looks really strange to see it capitalised.
I say that it should be capitalized and that's how I write it, e.g., "I am on the Internet" or "I have Internet service"
Taking this from Mary's post:
"If you're talking about it as an entity, there is only one Internet and it is therefore a proper noun so should be capitalised. "
We've beaten this horse to death. But I'm ready to beat it a bit more...
As conventions like this obviously change and drift over the years, I notice an interesting similarity to "Xerox". Once a trademark, Xerox has turned into a common verb, and frequently not capitalized. Younger people may not even remember there was a great corporation by that name.
It appears in our SD dictionary in both spellings and either is a noun or a verb:
Xerox®
xerox
In electrical engineering, an internet is two or more networks which are interconnected. However, an Internet is a global interconnection of networks. you can create an internet yourself, but you cannot create Internet because there is only one and you can only connect to it.
