El internet, la internet or internet?

[AngelicaDeAlquezar]

@Poli: The reason why some foreign nouns can be considered both masculine and feminine is because it is considered that no one has to know either the gender of the word in its original language, nor the translation in his/her local language. Many people have to use them despite themselves because of wide usage.
That's the case for words like "el/la Internet", "el/la performance", "el/la chance"...

A long, long time ago, there was a sort of rule that every foreign word used in Spanish would pass with a masculine article, even if their origin or their translation would be a feminine. Such is the case for words like "el veliz" (*Mexican use only* --from French "la valise", and translated to Spanish as "la maleta"), "el cassette" (from French "la cassette", translated into Spanish as "la cajita" or defined as "la cinta"), "el cóctel/coctel" (from English "cocktail", which in Spanish could be "la bebida" or "la mezcla")...
One last example that not all foreign words take their gender from their translation into the local language, is that Spanish speakers don't say "la chat", but "el chat", even if it should be "la charla".


Edit: An example I have just observed — many people say "el blackberry", because they think of "el teléfono", but most people say "la blackberry", because they say a berry should be "una mora"; however, these very people also say "los blueberries" when they eat these fruits, and don't even care for the translation.

[poli]

That's good information. Thank you.

[pinosilano]

Yo he escuchado y leído:
"Estoy en internet" y "estoy navegando".
Nunca digo, y no sé por qué, "la internet", sin embargo "en la web/red" lo digo sin turbarmi. Y me entienden.