The internet is a powerful innovation that has had a profound impact on all of our lives. In fact, there are many of you reading this who can’t even imagine what life was like before the internet at all. Let me tell you, it was kind of weird. We did stuff like ride bikes, use portable tape and CD players, and would have to call friends at home, which usually meant talking to their parents first. Super weird, trust me. Because of how marvelous an innovation the internet has been, it has been considered a proper noun by the AP for quite a while now. Sadly, it appears that the love affair is over, and that the internet has lost its lofty status among the proper noun elite. According to the Associated Press, starting on June 1st the AP style guide will implore the world of print to keep the word internet lowercase in all instances.
While this might not sound like a big deal, it absolutely is. The AP has set the tone for how sites format and deliver news to the world, even the goofier news. This shift comes as the internet continues to grow and expand beyond the more rigid definition from the ’90s and early ’00s that earned the word its proper noun status from the AP. Grammar nerds everywhere, take heed, for the AP has spoken.
(Via The Associated Press)