August 17, 2004

• When speaking, I prefer to spell those words with quotation marks, as in: I was on the "Internet" today. I like to "surf" the "Web." The "Net" has many "pages" in it.
• You speak with quotation marks? Does that involve wiggling your fingers?
• NOOOOOOOO! noooooo! It's not true! It's IMPOSSSSIBLE!!!
• Effective with this sentence, "Wired magazine" will be spelled as "flaming bucket o' shit".
• In related news, Wired had nothing of any fucking interest to report to anyone on the planet for any reason at all. Except for its own sense of self-importance and hipness.
• In only tertiarily related news, I will continue to pronounce the word "hanger" as "HANE-er" and will henceforth refer to all carbonated beverages as "bubblicious liquidy treats." Wired News may or may not be picking this story up, only time will tell.
• Wired's graphic design is so bad it's painful. And as soon as I get enough time (i.e. never) I'm going to cull the back issues for every instance of "This is the next big thing" or "This will revolutionize the industry / world /etc" Because they're always wrong. Always. Not once, not a few times, but always.
• What's the biggy? I'm a copywriter and haven't capitalised 'internet' for years. It's not a proper noun. I don't drive a 'Car' or wear 'Shoes'. The sooner it's normalised the better...
• Way to go, Wired, you're now AP compliant!
• Aren't we supposed to be speaking in fully iconic language projected above our heads (along with flying cars, etc.)? cul8r! wheee!
• i don't know that i've ever capitalized "internet" or "web". i always thought it was dumb to do so, like capitalizing "interstate" or "highway". i sort of figured people who capitalized it - like marketing reps, self-important tools, people's bosses or parents, etc. - didn't have any idea what it was. (...then again, when i'm online i don't tend to capitalize much of anything, do i? it's only here and in emails. when i'm writing on my own web page, i capitalize. don't ask me why. bad habit i guess. i know, it's hard to read...)
• gee the folks over at slashdot are freaking out. many are pointing out that internet ought to be capitalized because it's a unique singular thing, a proper noun, a place name. fine. i dare you to point at it. where's the Internet, folks? what's that you say? it's everywhere? well, so is air. but we don't capitalize Air do we?
• Skrik: Yes, usually it does involve finger wiggles. Sometimes it's a gesture with my eyebrows, like "this," except I use my eyebrows.
• frogs - where are you now?
• I, for one, am happy Wired is doing this. I always cursed when Microsoft Word made me capitalize 'internet'. On the other hand, it's a pretty incredible thing that we've got going here. Maybe it deserves a capital letter after all. I don't know. *having made both sides mad, hides*
• heh, when I type "microsoft" into MS Word, it always gets auto-corrected to "Microsoft."
• The terrorists have won.
• Jakob Nielsen Declares the Letter "C" Unusable
• So would C++ become K++ or S++?
• MonkeyFilter: *having made both sides mad, hides*
• It's Just the 'internet' Now But that's still a title and arghfrghbrzzztghk...
• Meh. So now I have to edit all the posts where I wrote InterWeb?
• Duh, Flagpole, that's spelled "IntarWeb". Oh, and MS Word doesn't "make" you do anything. The first thing you should do with any word processor is turn off autocorrect.
• RXR LIKE CAPITAL LETTER
• Can we say geek thread? I knew we could.
• The second thing you should do with MS Word is discard it for OpenOffice and LyX.
• I think now we can.
• gleek tread! Mmwy'aay.
• What about the Web? Is it "web" or "Web"?
• G-G-geek thr-r-rr-ead. From what I understand (and I'm still confused), the article said that Web = web unless it's in the context of World Wide Web, which would remain capitalized. As for YOU, Mr. _best, don't you know that pointless off-topic sloganizing is MY job??
• What's the biggy? I'm a copywriter and haven't capitalised 'internet' for years. It's not a proper noun. But, kitfisto, it is a propper noun. The Internet is the name of a particular computer network. It happens to be the biggest and most important computer network in the world, so big that we often forget that it is a single network, but that's exactly what it is. To illustrate this, consider that every computer on the Internet can exchange information with every other computer on the Internet. This is because they're all part of the same network. If you hook up two computers in isolation, by contrast, they can only exchange information with one another, and are not part of the Internet. They're forming their own network different from the network called the Internet. As for caution live frogs' question... where is the Internet? Well the computer you're using right now is part of the Internet. Unplug it from the wall and it won't be. The Internet isn't 'everwhere'. It is only where connected computers are. Having said all that, I rarely capitalise Internet. That's because I'm lazy and don't care all that much. But, deep in my heart, I know that not capitalising Internet is actually gramatically incorrect, because it's a proper noun. Yes, I know, I'm boring. And a big geek. And not fun.
• I think the tutor in my IT course might take points away from me if, God forbid, I forget the capitals in "Internet". Personally I don't care one way or the other. It's not the huge deal it was twelve years ago, after all.
• Does this mean we can also stop capitalizing The Matrix now too? *dials out to reality, where a bowl of lukewarm tasteless mush awaits*
• Hey, sometimes it's "the internet" and sometimes it's "THE INTERNET", but to me, it's never "the Internet". So, has Wired officially declared the sarcastic term "intraweb" Wired, Tired or Expired?
• As for YOU, Mr. _best, don't you know that pointless off-topic sloganizing is MY job?? I dunno... It seems to be pretty much all I do any more. MonkeyFilter: It seems to be pretty much all I do any more.
• in other news, quonsar continues to not capitalize quonsar.
• they have the web on the internet, now?
• In Wired Magazine, internet capitalizes you!
• Hopefully kd lang will get her hands on these three new available capitalizations.
• Do I still need to capitalize Compu-Global-Hyper-Mega-Net?
• Yes, but only the G and the H.
• I guess I need to start capitalizing Universe and Space now, since those have suddenly become proper nouns by having the same virtues that make the Internet a proper noun.
• oooh lookie! its Q....er i mean q... *swoon
• alas, it's too late for e.e. cummings. *pours a cold one on the ground*
• So as with most everything else, Wired is now lagging 3 years behind the curve...
• Monkeyfilter: We Will Capitalize You.
• There are many internets, but there is only one Internet, and that is the Internet. (substitute "Moon" if you don't believe me) IOW, "internet" is a generic term referring to a network of networks. "The Internet" is specifically the global internet that we are using to contribute to this web site. The Internet is not America Online, or Compuserve, or Joe's Fancy Network and Fly Fishing Shop.
• dirigibleman, that is brilliant! "The moon (or possibly, Moon) is made of cheese! Substitute the word 'rock' and see if I'm not right!" (though I do see your point, and whatever, it just reads sorta funny but perhaps only to me so I'll shut up now). also, bbf - ha!
• dirigibleman is is quite correct. If Wired had't jumped the shark with that "long boom" crap or the "push" hype, they have now.
• Hell and I always thought that Wired spelt it: INtERneT. Must have just been the cool font. Silly me.
• Lowercase that i!
• Well, personally I think that the "correctness" of language usage is very relative, and basically determined by common practice, i.e. what people do. Some do and some don't capitalize (i/I)nternet. I suppose in actually then the word exists in a quantum state of flux. But I've always been attracted to the idea of the Internet as a proper noun. It feels like one to me. Kind of like Multivac or whatever Isaac Asimov called it in that awesome old story "Marooned off Vespa." The Internet is way better though, since you can see stuff on a screen, instead of just paper tape. Brief textual descriptions of the posteriors of female Olympic athletes just aren't the same.
• it's spelled 1#73r#37, duh.
• but is it a _capital_ 1?
• i'm for not capitalizing anything, how about that? would this sentence be more difficult to read then if i had capitalized the first letter? capitals were great when you needed to show emphasis, but these days it just slows down one's typing.
• From now on I'm just spelling it 0110100101101110011101000110010101110010011011100110010101110100.
• The Internet is not your fucking khakis. The Internet is not a unique and beautiful snowflake. The Internet is the all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world.
• all-singing, all-dancing crap of the world
• Capitalization irked him because, he said, it seemed to imply that reaching into the vast, interconnected ether was a brand-name experience. well waah. *walks off to join capital I'ers, squats down, chews hardtack*
• What's the problem with intraweb wendell? Intra is a common suffix (eg: intramural) denoting within an organisation. I think we all know what a web is.
• Except "intra" is a prefix.
• well, associated press still capitalizes each so that's how it's gonna stay in newspapers. i think everything written online should be all lowercase. i've been using only lowercase letters since i began typing on the internet more than 10 years ago. i'm still waiting for it to catch on. try it, it's comfortable!!! no more annoying shift keys. ahhhh.
• Hey, look who's back!
• Hi Dishie!
• Yeah, SideDish, then why isn't your MoFi Name all in Lower Case*? Sounds kinda shifty to me. *note the irony in Capitalizing the words "Lower Case". Hah! I kill me!
• Don't you mean "Irony"?
• HI GUYS! WHAT'CHA DOIN? YOU GUYS PLAYIN' CARDS? *clueless smile*