Internet isn't a proper noun. The Internet is.

If he's got time to spell check everything, I want to know why he's not doing the job he's employed for.

Not even 'the'?

What amazes me is that that Lee guy that WON the apprentice this year had such cripplingly appalling spelling and grammar skills. How can he be put into a position of authority when he can't be trusted to tap out emails that don't make him seem like an utter retard?

Or an email that accidentally proposes a deal saying the oposite of what he meant.

Hang on - easy solution. Anyone got a copy of OED to hand? Look up "internet".

I would capitalise the Internet. There's only one of it, so it's as much a name as a thing.

Thre's only one little paperclip monster in the world that's exactly like the one I just made. Should it therefore be capitalised?

Uniqueness isn't the determining factor for Proper Noun Status.

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.

A proper noun is a noun that is the name of a specific individual, place, or object.

Another:

"This is my Cup"?

Fuck off.

I think you're confusing the fact that all kittens are cats with all cats being kittens.

Regarding further discussions about #3, here's an interesting discussion about the matter from NPR's "Talk of the Nation": http://www.npr.org/templates/story/stor ... Id=3855589. And here's an
opposing opinion on the BBC site: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/3613594.stm.

My sense is that Wired's change will be slow to take hold, especially among book publishers...

Oh Lord, they're at it again

No, no no no. 'This is my cup' doesn't differentiate the cup from all the other cups. If you gave it a name, and said 'This is Cup', that would be correct.

Oh yes, clearly. You can tell everything about someone by the way they spell, of course.

Thre's only one little paperclip monster in the world that's exactly like the one I just made. Should it therefore be capitalised?

If you call it "Little paperclip monster" then yes, yes it should.

The wqay they spell? No.

But The Internet is a name - given that there's no such thing as an internet.

Have you not read any of CraigG's posts, man? There *is* such a thing as an internet.

That's a wordsmith's view though. I'm a techie, and can quite thoroughly assure you that there is no such thing as 'an' internet. It's possible that there might be in the future - but given that The Internet is a proper noun, we'll probably call them something else

Lots of proper nouns include 'The' - The Great Wall Of China, for example. You would always capitalise the 'The', wouldn't you?

Er... An internet (short for internetwork) is what you get when you plug two separate networks together.

No. You wouldn't. At all. No no no no no.

Hmm - you appear to be correct. Startlingly.

Shame no-one else pointed that out ages ago, or anything. You bugger.

That's a wordsmith's view though.

Also, everyone here think of this: it's one thing moaning about spellings of words, but imagine how much of a pain in the arse it is for me, trying to keep track of how each publication demands certain things to be spelled.

You stupid half a pence worth!

Half the time, subs complain if you don't take note of their style guides. That said, some elements of guides I just resolutely ignore as being really awful (notably Imagine's insistence on turning 1980s into the awful Eighties). Although, to be fair, I've had literally no contact with the Imagine subs. I think they're probably scared enough of Retro Gamer writers after Stu went all HULK SMASH on them a while back.

Better than turning it into 1980's though, if you ask me. New York Times, I'm looking at you, perhaps.