@steckerhalter Those are general terms though, not referring to one specific instance. They get capitalised if you're referring to a particular one.

@scoon
not really, it's not my #Network but my network, mostly just names and places are capitalized

@steckerhalter If you're referring to a specific network, ie. the Jones' Network, then it becomes a proper noun with a capital. But networks in general aren't capitalised. Whereas the Internet is (in common understanding) a single, particular entity that needs a capital.

@scoon Allright, I see. So why is the #Internet mostly spelled internet? Let's say the #telephone network would be called "telnet", would anybody spell it "Telnet"?. I'd say: "I'm on telnet" but not "I'm on Telnet".

@steckerhalter What you're referring to isn't spelling, but capitalization. Anyway.

I can't account for how you write about being on a Telnet session, or connecting via Telnet, but the rules are pretty clear.

You'll notice that most Internet providers still capitalise correctly, which leads to the interesting thought of when ordinary folk starting ignoring the rule.

@scoon #Language is not a set of #rules. Rather the rules were made afterwards so you could finally be "right" or "wrong" (in #school to begin with). #Ortography seems to be mostly there because the system (and the people) lacks the flexibility to deal with language as something that is #alive.

@steckerhalter I see you've done some googling.

Nevertheless this is straying very far from the original question.

@scoon Actually I didn't google this, anyway, let's get back to the point. I think it's perfectly fine to write "internet" and I do understand why people prefer to do it (as I have explained already). I think it's not (as you suggested) because of the ubiquity of the internet, but because many people prefer to write it so.

@steckerhalter Actually, language is a highly sophisticated set of rules that you're using right now to be understood.

That doesn't mean they're not changeable.

@scoon the thing is, they're not "rules", the child does not learn rules to learn the language, but it learns the language without any rules - and perfectly too

@steckerhalter Children absolutely DO learn the rules of language.

"No Jimmy, it's not 'I *were* there, it's I *was* there.' "

They just learn them without understanding them as what we define as rules. To them, it's just "how to speak properly".