The 'Internet' and 'Web' are brought low(er case)
"Internet" and "Web", two proper nouns that have been the bane of copy editors everywhere, are set to lose a little...cultural capital.
As of June 1, 2016, "Internet" and "Web" will no longer be proper nouns, or so says the new edition of the comprehensive style and word usage manual, the Associated Press Stylebook. First announced in a tweet in April, the move is finally set to come into effect.
"The argument for lowercasing Internet is that it has become wholly generic, like electricity and the telephone. It never was trademarked and is not based on any proper noun," Tom Kent, AP Standards editor, said in a statement.
Losing the capital letters puts the two words on the same level as other tech terms that have entered the common parlance, like "website" (at one point styled "Web site") or email ("e-mail").