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 ...
The author has a bug up his ass about something stupid. Better that he spends his energy there, though, than on something that matters.
Yep, that is the correct answer.
I wrote my high school sports for the my city’s newspaper when I was fourteen and never heard of double space after a sentence then and not until I saw this thread now.
No, perhaps I should have said that a typeface is a collection of fonts, the opposite of what you wrote.
I’ve always used a single space. Double spacing just ‘looks’ ugly to me when used in paragraphs. Double spacing is also a waste of space.
It is really quite simple: Liberals use one space after a period at the end of a sentence; I use two.
I understand the AP Stylebook has changed and now recommends one space. Thus, my point has been made.
(And, don’t even get me started on the proper spacing behind a colon!:)
Typing textbooks of my generation say TWO SPACES.
Printing and typing were two different things.
Same here (1979). Back then we used a gizmo called a typewriter. I think html fails to pick up the second space, but I continue to type them regardless.
Maybe they should go back to the Middle-Age Manuscript kind of writing. There were no spaces or punctuation. Would suit Slate perfectly.
Single spacing has been the desktop publishing standard now for over 10 years.
I absolutely disagree! I took typing for 4 years and it was taught 2 spaces at the end of each sentence. I agree that one space looks sloppy and lazy. Makes it seem there is no end to your sentence when I feel I need to emphasis that I am indeed ending my sentence. 1 space between words and two spaces to end my sentence.
I definitely won’t be going along with the 1 space crew. Sorry to disappoint!
I agree, but on a computer (like posting here on FR) one is actually typesetting, not typing.
Ditto
Absolutely correct. In a computer variable spaced font, two spaces looks like crap when printed out.
Wonder if the two spacers are upset that an "i" doesn't take up the same amount of horizontal space as a "w" in a computer font.
Same here, I was also taught in my high school typing class that it was two spaces after the period. But as you can see here I’ve slipped from that practice. Or have I? :)
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