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 ...
Yep...high school and college always made me use two spaces.
I learned that you put two spaces after the end of a sentence. Like others here, I got that from a HS typing class (back in the 70s, so computers weren’t really on our radar yet).
That being said, this issue concerns me about as much as the Quisp vs. Quake debate.
Courier is very useful for blocks of code or data; not for nostalgia purposes, but for alignment.
I use mostly Times New Roman for body text, and Courier New for any fixed pitch needs.
I use .pdf formattig at my site. Is kerning a file format? By the way, I agree with the article in reference to the cultist Harold Camping. What is really sad about him is that he rides the waves of family radio - which for the most part is a nice station with godly music and some fair preaching (aside from the supra-Calvinism). Camping seems to be the owner of the group - but the dichotomy just doesn’t fit.
ok, I checked it out and see what it is now . . . a formatting device which causes the characters to group closer together in a paragraph. I will see how it works and how much “larger” my file gets using kerning.
Thanks for the tip, daniel1212.
The editors at Slate had some empty space to fill and this discussion - that amounts to the typesetters equivalent of debating home many angles can dance on the head of a pin - was all they could come up with.
Yes, consistency is an issue in writing. So, pick a standard, one space or two, and use it religiously. No one will misunderstand you.
To me, the above doesn't make sense without commas: People, you'd think, would know better...
And in case anyone is keeping score, I prefer a single space after periods.
≤}B^)
And do you always capitalize the next word?
(Don't have my Strunk 'n White handy, but it probably addresses the space[s]-after-a-period convention also.)
I wasn't using the word "people" as a proper noun to address anyone. If I were, I would have used a comma after the word. I definitely wouldn't add a pause between the words, "think" and "would". Creating a pause there seems unnatural to me.
I saw those mechanical marvels in use during a class trip to our daily newspaper.
They sure had a lot of gas flames around printing plants in those days, melting lead and drying ink on the paper coming out of the presses.
Saw similar at my uncle/godfather’s printing company.
Because. You. Write. One. Word. Sentences.
≤}B^)
Here's an example that's caused a bit of heartburn over the years:
" A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed. "
You must be one of the Four Horsemen of the Apostrophe.
There’s an old story, can’t even remember where I heard it...it went something like this:
A woman spent twenty years making roast every Sunday for dinner. She would always cut the roast in half and cook in in two pans. Someone finally asked her why she did it that way, and she said it was because that was the way her mother taught her to do it. But as she got to thinking about it some more she decided to call her Mom and ask her why. Turns out that her Mom had small cupboards and so she didn’t have a big enough pan for a whole roast.
People are so funny. :-)
Put me down as a one-spacer.
Pizza Girl: "Would you like that cut into six or eight pieces?"
Yogi: "Six; I'm not hungry enough to eat eight."
LOL! No, but I feel like I’ve met a few of them.
It changed when the computer information age came in genius. This is because when you use 1 space and you printed out something (say a work order), then the lines ran together. Thus, why we have the double space.
No offense but there are bigger fish in the Sea to be concerned about right now. The Middle East is on fire, we are going broke and this guy’s number one concern in life is how many spaces we should use after a sentence???
Gee. I can’t remember my typing teacher’s name. I do remember it’s TWO SPACES, and I distinctly remember the cute guy who sat next to me.
(Hi, Mike!!)
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