The earth v. Earth

Wilson Gray hwgray at GMAIL.COM
Wed Aug 8 13:08:36 UTC 2007


>From Slashdot science:

"[The asteroid] Apophis will pass closer to _earth_ than
geosynchronous satellites orbit."

I'm pretty sure - though I wouldn't bet money on it - that, back in
the '40's and '50's - the earth was referred to as "_the_ earth." More
recently, it seems to me, "the earth" has been replaced by "Earth."
Here's an instance that's neither "the earth" nor "Earth." It could be
a simple typo, however.

-Wilson
--
All say, "How hard it is that we have to die"---a strange complaint to
come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
-----
                                              -Sam'l Clemens

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



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