The earth v. Earth

[Benjamin Barrett]

I think Time magazine mentioned this in an editorial note about planet
capitalization around 15 years ago. (It was probably before they
downgraded their writing style for mass appeal since that's when I
stopped reading it.)

They said that they capitalized all the planets except earth because the
others are named for gods. I don't recall if there was a justification
for not capitalizing earth. BB

Wilson Gray wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Poster:       Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> >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 recently, it seems to me, "the earth" has been replaced by "Earth."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.
>

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