surf the Internet or surf on the Internet | WordReference Forums

They say that "surf the Internet" means "to go purposely from site to site or to browse" while "surf on the Internet" means "to browse or move ... Forums Dictionarysearch:  English-Spanish English-French English-Italian English-German English-Dutch English-Russian English-Portuguese English-Polish English-Romanian English-Swedish English-Czech English-Greek English-Turkish English-Chinese English-Japanese English-Korean English-Arabic Spanish-English French-English Italian-English German-English Dutch-English Russian-English Portuguese-English Polish-English Romanian-English Swedish-English Czech-English Greek-English Turkish-English Chinese-English Japanese-English Korean-English Arabic-English Spanish-French Spanish-Portuguese Spanish-Catalan French-Spanish Portuguese-Spanish Englishdefinition Englishsynonyms Englishcollocations Englishusage Italiandefinition Spanishdefinition Spanishsynonyms Catalandefinition Spanish French Italian Login Register What'snew Search Rules/Help/FAQ Members InterfaceLanguage Menu Login Register Installtheapp Install Forums EnglishOnly EnglishOnly Youareusinganoutofdatebrowser.Itmaynotdisplaythisorotherwebsitescorrectly.Youshouldupgradeoruseanalternativebrowser. surftheInternetorsurfontheInternet Threadstarter mcmay Startdate Jan18,2013 M mcmay SeniorMember Australia Chinese Hi,mydearfriends!Recently,inmystudents'papersIkeptcomingacrossthetwophrases"surftheInternet"or"surfontheInternet".Ican'tjudgewhichismoreidiomatic.IsearchedthetwotermsontheNetandfoundpeoplesaythatbothareacceptablebuthaveslightlydifferentmeaning.Theysaythat"surftheInternet"means"togopurposelyfromsitetositeortobrowse"while"surfontheInternet"means"tobrowseormovefromsitetositerandomly".Againit'sbeyondmyknowledgetomakeanyjudgement. Aslo,Isearchedthesetermsonthiswebsiteandreadthreadsaboutthem.Oneofthethreadswhichismostpertainingonlyshowsadiscussionthatdeviatesfromthethreadtitle.So,tomakethisproblemclear,Iaskforyourhelp,myfriends.DobothtermsexistindailyEnglishspeaking?DotheyhavedifferentmeaningasconcludedbypeopleontheNet? Thankyou!   MissJulie SeniorMember Chicagometroarea English-U.S. Surf,not"surfon."   sdgraham SeniorMember Oregon,USA USAEnglish Youmightreviewtheexistingthreads access/surftheInternet surftheinternet surftheInternet? surftheinternet/surf(on)thewaves? surf/browsetheInternet   M mcmay SeniorMember Australia Chinese Tosdgraham:AsImentionedinmythread,IdidsearchthetermsonthissiteandfoundthesameexistingthreadsasyoukindlyprovidedbutIhaven'tsofarfoundanythingenlighteningenoughtostraightenthismatterout.Thankyouforyourdirection!Ihopemorepeopleherewillcontinuetodiscussthistopicandgivehelp.Thankyouinadvance.   M mcmay SeniorMember Australia Chinese Thankyou,MissJulie.Wouldyoupleasesupplyanyevidenceforyourconclusion?   MissJulie SeniorMember Chicagometroarea English-U.S. mcmaysaid: Thankyou,MissJulie.Wouldyoupleasesupplyanyevidenceforyourconclusion? Clicktoexpand... Wesay"surftheInternet"or"surftheWeb"(inAmericanEnglish).That'smyevidence.   P Parla MemberEmeritus NewYorkCity English-US Theysaythat"surftheInternet"means"togopurposelyfromsitetositeortobrowse"while"surfontheInternet"means"tobrowseormovefromsitetositerandomly". Clicktoexpand... AtleastforAmericanusage(Ican'tspeakforBritish),"they"arewrong.Wesay"surftheinternet"(wenolongercapitalize"internet")inbothcases.   MissJulie SeniorMember Chicagometroarea English-U.S. Parlasaid: AtleastforAmericanusage(Ican'tspeakforBritish),"they"arewrong.Wesay"surftheinternet"(wenolongercapitalize"internet")inbothcases. Clicktoexpand... Iworkforamedicalorganizationthatpublishestwojournals,andourstyleistocapitalize(WorldWide)WebandInternet,soIguessthat'swhyIdoithere.   B Biffo SeniorMember England English-England IcanspeakforBritishusageandwe"surftheinternet".   M mcmay SeniorMember Australia Chinese Thankyou,MissJulie,foryourfurtherexplanation. <> Thankyou,again.IhopeIcancontinuetoreceiveyourkindhelpinmyprospectiveinquiriesaboutEnglish.   Lasteditedbyamoderator:Jan20,2013 M mcmay SeniorMember Australia Chinese Thankyou,Parla,foryourupdatinginformationon"surftheinternet".Totellthetruth,untilveryrecently,Iwasstilljudgingthe"internet"intheirworkasawrongspelling.   M mcmay SeniorMember Australia Chinese Thankyou,Biffo,foryourintroductionoftheBritishwayofexpressingtheterm.Inmyimpression,inmycountry,thatisChina,itistheAmericanversionofEnglishthatweencountermostlybothinsideandoutsidetheclassroombecausetheteachingmaterialsandtheforeignteachersaremostlyfromtheU.S.,thoughtherearesomefromtheU.K.andaustralia,too.StudentsknowverylittleaboutBritishEnglish,letalonethedifferencebetweenthetwoversions.   P Parla MemberEmeritus NewYorkCity English-US ...thoughtherearesomefromtheU.K.andAustralia,too. Clicktoexpand... SpeakingforbothAmEandBrE,weallalwayscapitalizethenamesofcountries.   M mcmay SeniorMember Australia Chinese Haha,Australia!Imistypedtheinitialletter.Thankyou,Parla!   Youmustloginorregistertoreplyhere. Share: Facebook Twitter Reddit WhatsApp Email Share Link Forums EnglishOnly EnglishOnly Top