How the Internet is like the Verrazano Bridge

No, the Internet has not become a series of bridges; it remains a series of tubes.

The Internet is like the Verrazano Bridge in that there are moves afoot – ill-advised moves — to change how each entity is represented through the written word.

In the case of the Internet, the influential Associated Press and its indefatigable style disciples have already decreed that the word Internet should no longer be capitalized. Many news organizations and journalists are meekly complying by demoting the Internet to the internet. As you can see, I am refusing to fall in line.

Meanwhile, in New York City, nitpicky petitioners are demanding that the Verrazano Bridge – North America’s longest such span – be renamed the Verrazzano Bridge. OK, fine, renaming may be oversating the case; they’re actually demanding the addition of a second “z” in Verrazano, despite the fact that it’s been spelled with only one since the bridge opened in 1964.

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