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Usenet Posted 23 years ago
Usage

Confused by Net (or net) language

I'm often confused as to the correct form and usage of some Internet language. For example:
Is 'Internet' capitalized?
Is 'on-line' hyphenated?
Is e-mail countable, i.e. can I write, 'How many emails do you receive each day'?
Is it 'website' or 'web site'?
Thanks.
  

Top answer

[nq:1]I'm often confused as to the correct form and usage of some Internet language. [/nq] Generally. Especially by those of us who use "internet" as a common noun and think of the Internet as a specific instance, which started out life as the "ARPANET", later became the "ARPA Internet", then the "NSF Internet", and then finally just the "Internet".

— Usenet

  • [nq:1]I'm often confused as to the correct form and usage of some Internet language.
  • [/nq] Generally.
  • Especially by those of us who use "internet" as a common noun and think of the Internet as a specific instance, which started out life as the "ARPANET", later became the "ARPA Internet", then the "NSF Internet", and then finally just the "Internet".
  • An internet is a network of networks connected by routers that run an internetworking protocol, the most common of which these days is called "IP", which stands for "Internet Protocol".
  • Interestingly MWCD10 dates "Internet" defined only in the specific sense to 1986, but a quick Usenet search shows it in use as early as 1982, both by implication: This can often be the case with site 2 networks away in the internet (note small "i").
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5 Answers
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[nq:1]I'm often confused as to the correct form and usage of some Internet language. For example: Is 'Internet' capitalized?[/nq]
Generally. Especially by those of us who use "internet" as a common noun and think of the Internet as a specific instance, which started out life as the "ARPANET", later became the "ARPA Internet", then the "NSF Internet", and then finally just the "Internet". An in
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[nq:1]I'm often confused as to the correct form and usage of some Internet language.[/nq]
Me too.
[nq:1]For example: Is 'Internet' capitalized?[/nq]
I don't think it's necessary to capitalise it: "I use the internet at work." What purpose would be served by a capital I?
I do capitalise "Web" though because this distinguishes this kind of web from other kinds: "I'll have a look on t
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Probably none now, but a decade ago a reasonable response would be to ask "Does your internet connect with ours?"

Evan Kirshenbaum + HP Laboratories >Whatever it is that the government
1501 Page Mill Road, 1U, MS 1141 >does, sensible Americans would preferPalo Alto, CA 94304 >that the government do it to somebody

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[nq:1]I'm often confused as to the correct form and usage of some Internet language.[/nq]
You probably need to re-think your use
of the word "correct", because it will just
get you into arguments.
[nq:1]For example: Is 'Internet' capitalized?[/nq]
Often.
[nq:1]Is 'on-line' hyphenated?[/nq]
When used as an adjective, it is usually
either hyphenated or run together ("
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[nq:1]I'm often confused as to the correct form and usage of some Internet language. For example: Is 'Internet' capitalized?[/nq]
The internet is the widest linking of networks, and it includes the Internet and other networks.
For example, Fidonet is not part of the Internet, but it is part of the internet.

Steve Hayes from Tshwane, South Africa
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