It's pen pals for the internet generation.?

[Alan]

Hi Tamara,

Hope you got the little barb from Englis huser! My goodness, whatever next?

A
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[Alan]

Hi Tamara,

Just a smiley? Don't know what that means.

A
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[Tamara]

A smiley is just a smiley.
Just to say that I'm not a serious and devoted barb-collector. And never have been.
Sorry.
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[Yankee]

I have to admit that my understanding of this little nugget of a sentence (as far as the understanding went, that is) was that something made possible by technology today is being compared to the penpalery of yesteryear.

[Englishuser]

Hi Tamara,

I meant your spelling of 'internet generation'. I'm not worried about typos, but I think dictionaries are good when we want to know how a word is spelt or pronounced, or when we're uncertain about its meaning.

I didn't mean to offend you. I just thought I could make a good and helpful suggestion. I'm sorry for underestimating you - I realise by now that you already consult appropriate works of reference.

Englishuser

[Tamara]

Englishuser, that's OK.
I'm not a pouter (or what word do you use for a person who easily takes offences?)
I'd even say that it's a bit difficult task to make me actually feel offended.

[Yankee]

Hi Tamara

Just out of curiosity, how does your MS Word "feel" about the word "internet" (without the capital 'I')? Have you checked?

There are a number of other publications in addition to Wired News that have adopted the non-capitalized spelling. Personally, I think it's only a matter of time before even the dictionaries decide that saying "the internet" is no different from saying "the phone company".

Amy

[Englishuser]

Hi Yankee,

You wrote:

[Tamara]

[Englishuser]

Hi Tamara,

You said:

[Torsten]

I'm quite sure that the majority of people treat the internet like any other noun and at some point this will become the standard. It's similar to the spelling of the word email. At the beginning, most dictionaries suggested 'e-mail' or 'E-mail' (and probably still do) but most people simple write 'email' as one word because it's faster and makes more sense. Remember that it's the majority of users of a language who make the rules not just some linguists. The latter only analyze the language as it is used and update the rules accordingly.
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[Englishuser]

Hi Torsten,

You said:

[Yankee]

.
In addition, I predict internet will simply not be able to logically remain capitalized. Even today you find definitions of "the Internet" such as this:

(Note: capital "I"). The Internet is the largest internet (with a small "i") in the world.

I can easily imagine additional large internets in the future: internet II, internet III, internet IV, etc. That's not really any different from saying channel 2, channel 3, channel 4 (TV stations).

Amy

[Englishuser]

Hi Amy,

I suppose we'll just have to wait and see what future has in store for us.

Englishuser

[Tamara]

Morning!