Posted on 03/27/2011 5:42:59 PM PDT by Yardstick
Can I let you in on a secret? Typing two spaces after a period is totally, completely, utterly, and inarguably wrong.
And yet people who use two spaces are everywhere, their ugly error crossing every social boundary of class, education, and taste.[snip]
What galls me about two-spacers isn't just their numbers. It's their certainty that they're right. Over Thanksgiving dinner last year, I asked people what they considered to be the "correct" number of spaces between sentences. The diners included doctors, computer programmers, and other highly accomplished professionals. Everyone—everyone!—said it was proper to use two spaces. Some people admitted to slipping sometimes and using a single space—but when writing something formal, they were always careful to use two. Others explained they mostly used a single space but felt guilty for violating the two-space "rule." Still others said they used two spaces all the time, and they were thrilled to be so proper. When I pointed out that they were doing it wrong—that, in fact, the correct way to end a sentence is with a period followed by a single, proud, beautiful space—the table balked. "Who says two spaces is wrong?" they wanted to know.
Typographers, that's who. The people who study and design the typewritten word decided long ago that we should use one space, not two, between sentences. That convention was not arrived at casually.[snip]
(Excerpt) Read more at slate.com ...
While I do recognize that double spacing is a remnant of the mono-type age that’s how my thumb was taught and I don’t consider it worth the effort to retrain it. And anybody that doesn’t like it can just not read what I write. I probably don’t like them anyway.
Double spacing is a left over from typing class. Most typewriters had monospaced fonts (every letter took the same amount of space). So to delineate a new sentence, the double space was used.
JEEEMINY, i gave all you FREEPERS 87 CHANCES...
EIGHTY-SEVEN...CHANCES to get to this one. NOT ONE of you has posted it yet..I must say im not very proud of you ....normally there are a ton of sharpies in the FREEPER..populace....and at least one or more should have beaten me to this one by now...but apparently all the quick draw artists are absent tonight ....sooo
Punctuation is very important, a lot of people get excited about it. For example, in our office one time, one of the secretaries missed a period, and boy did everybody get excited about it!
Not needing two spaces came from Word 2.0 (and followed by most word processing programs and later by standard in editors, etc) where it automatically added the additional space. Anyone who learned typing on an actual typewriter or was weened on early computers had this practice drilled into them at a young age have challenges with this. It is still a habit I have trouble with.
...but my fingers think that they’re typing, not type-setting. :-)
Interesting topic.......
There are those of us who began typing on a typewriter-albeit a manual in 1954. Those were the days when you learned to be a really good secretary with the ability to type 100 wpm error free on a ten minute test which would earn an A and a special award. Transition to a computer keyboard was not difficult but I have never understood why there is an extra set of numbers on the right hand side. Those on the top row are just fine. Certainly those who later became “keypunch operators” had a machine with just the numbers which are identical to those on an adding machine. Two spaces to some of us is just a basic grammar/punctuation rule which we will never give up and defend its correctness to our death! Some of us also use old fashioned Gregg shorthand to take notes on information which will be used later. Great timesaver. I personally think we are way ahead of the curve because we know more than one way to manage these tasks, unlike the current generation.
100 wpm!!! WOW!!! I’m sincerely impressed! My top was 80, and I was proud to reach that.
How does everyone feel about double spacing after a two-letter state abbreviation before adding a zip code in an address?
Randolph, MA 02368 versus:
Randolph, MA 02368
...single space losers... ;-)
Me too, and I have even set type on a Line-o-type machine. :-)
...oy, I forgot that FR removes the 2nd space:
“Randolph, MA 02368”
“Randolph, MA 02368”
I learned two spaces in typing class back in 1982. I ain't changin'.
Arrrghhhh! just type it yourselves...
Single spacing is grammatically and stylistically correct my friend.
The Tongue and Quill, the guide for official military writing, proclaims the two space rule. Therefore, it is mandated for military use, thus Slate is wrong when claiming the one space rule for all typed comms.
When I type in a MS word doc. it always corrects to one space.
This must be correct!
All hail Bill Gates!
isn’t just their numbers. It’s their certainty
isn’t just their numbers. It’s their certainty
Okay. I copied-and-pasted the above phrase from the beginning of the article and then typed the exact same phrase myself letter for letter, using two spaces after the period and positioned it directly below the copied-and-pasted phrase here in this ‘Your Reply’ box.
There is clearly a difference. The gap after the period is wider in what I typed versus the original. However... when I click ‘preview’, the two lines match up identically in the ‘If you posted your comment as-is, it would look like ... ‘ box, ie., the gaps are exactly the same.
This tells me that Free Republic’s software has a default of one space following a period (or zero spaces if it is typed that way). Two or more spaces automatically default to one space.
The lesson: Typing more than one space after a period when posting here at Free Republic is a waste of time.
Nuns forced me to use 2 spaces, and I have the ruler marks on my hands to prove it. But I broke the habit and am now a happy one-spacer. It really makes the world a brighter space and my word process documents are smaller as a result.
So, I am a happy person now.
Taught by whom?
I have never thought about it until I read this thread.
It's been so long I don't even remember whether it was taught or simply imitated from the number of books I've read throughout my life.
100 is aweseome! I have to boast here since I was in competition with my teacher and I love typing. She was able to do 125 wpm and I was bound and determined to beat her.
I beat her only once at 126. She didn’t think I would ever do it. I still was able to match her many times though! My top speed was 125. I’ve progressively gotten worse as I’ve aged though. I’m down around 97 now. I still love typing though!
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