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. Everyoneeveryone!said it was proper to use two spaces. Some people admitted to slipping sometimes and using a single spacebut 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 wrongthat, in fact, the correct way to end a sentence is with a period followed by a single, proud, beautiful spacethe 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 ...
Interesting...yes.
Two spaces...always.
It’s so good to “see” you! ;o)
[Because. You. Write. One. Word. Sentences. ]
Ha! I R an idiot! Or I put two spaces between every word!
“My typing teacher, Mr. Louis A. Orr said two spaces. My Advanced Composition Teacher, Mr. Hazel Dwyer Fish said two spaces. My Journalism Professor, Dr. Imogen Bolls said two spaces.
If I changed now,they would all find me and break my fingers for not doing as I was taught.”
They must have had doppelgangers because I’m sure I had the same teachers, and over my life time owned at least 3 books on style. Times may change and from what I can tell it’s now perfectly acceptable to use the “F” word in public, but that doesn’t mean I’m going to do it. I seem to remember numerous admonitions as a child- something about if so-and-jumps off a cliff....
As did my 11th grade typing teacher, Mrs. Patti Nelson back in 1967. Two spaces it was then, two spaces it is now. Period.
Then she went into a tirade about how I needed to get a life.
Case Closed!
I notice even here that I can type two spaces, but FR formatting only presents one.
My hs typing teacher made us do two spaces. 1968 Morgan Park in Chicago...
I remember distinctly missing an A because I didn’t double space after ALL the periods. I think starting today I’ll single space...
Obviously Mr. Manjoo learned to type in India where there's always been a shortage of space s.....
But you were distinguishing between those who are reasonable and those who are unreasonable. You are in effect addressing two distinct audiences. Without a comma, that distinction is unclear, even though the reader instinctively understands what you are talking about. To me it's only proper to use a comma to reinforce those partial concepts.
Creating a pause there seems unnatural to me.
Again, I disagree. If spoken, one would naturally separate the middle phrase with a pause, even if ever so slightly, to distinguish who is being addressed. At the very least there would be a slight change of inflection.
But the point isn't how many spaces between words, but between punctuation. A period is just another punctuation mark, hence...
Yes, kerning helps. With Open Office it is quite simple, and is not like the manipulation of texts which Camping conducts.
A slightly larger break between them establishes their primacy as thought capsules. One space between them blurs the distinction, and the period just becomes a smaller comma.
That's how I see it. Frankly, I don't care if this or that style book says to use one, two or ten spaces. I'll stick with two.
Conventions change with time, and from country to country. I notice in the King James that it often capitalizes after a colon or semi colon.
“For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: {9} Not of works, lest any man should boast. “ (Ephesians 2:8-9)
“For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; {24} Being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus: “ (Romans 3:23-24)
As I remember, 2 spaces should be used with monospaces fonts, 1 space for proportional fonts. Can’t remember the source for that, though.
c. There are two spaces between the period after the letter and the first letter of the sentence.
From the Naval Correspondence Manual.
It appears the posting editor eliminates the second space as in the above post, which had been posted with 2 spaces, but now appears as one.
The objections I'm reading to one-spacing are unjustified. Modern computers do the work for you and it doesn't make it easier to read.
FR has thousands of readers on a daily basis and as a member for over 15 years, I honestly don't ever recall anyone complaining that FR was hard to read because there wasn't double spacing between sentences. Same with the entirety of the internet. Anyone who reads anything on the internet or in print media is dealing with one variable width space between sentences and has been for years.
Oh, well. People 40 and under who learned to type on a computer keyboard do it right. It's one of those things that will take a generation to change.
The iDevices do the same thing.
Actually, I always do too. And—two spaces after the colon as well!
Color me jealous!
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