An outrage! I am leading a rebellion!

[galleywest]

So I learned recently that I have, apparently, been living in the Dark Ages. The typewriting, carbon-papered, word-processing fog of prehistory. Everyone else is living in the grammatical Space Age, which has nothing to do with orbiting earth and everything to do with putting only one space after a period at the end of a sentence! In my day and age we put two spaces after a period and we liked it! By gum, that was how you did it and you didn't question it! The typing teacher said do it and that was the end of it! Now I come to find that most other people--and even most style manuals!--are using only one space.

I started to realize something was terribly wrong when I asked the intern at work to write something up for me. First I thought, well, okay, the intern is only 23 so maybe she just never had a typing class, or maybe it's a commentary on the sad state of education in our country. But no, it seems that it's a commentary on the sad state of my own old-timey writing style. When did this happen, anyway? Did you know about this?? Well I didn't get the memo. Probably because it was being printed off on a Gutenberg press or something.

Well, regardless, I'm leading a rebellion! I'm still putting two spaces after a period at the end of a sentence! The PTSAPES movement! They can't stop me! I'll go off the grid if I have to, writing all my correspondence on college ruled paper using those whaddya-call-ems...you know, they're like sticks, only there's like this stuff that makes marks coming out of them? Lentils? No...pencils! Yeah. That's it!

Who's with me?!

 

[Maestro]

I'm with you. I am. Two spaces. Not going to change.

 

[Adm_Hawthorne]

There hasn't been a hard, fast rule for two spaces after the comma since before I graduated from college. There's no reason for it now days. The 'double space' happens automatically with today's computer technology.

It's kind of silly to keep it up when it's already done.

 

[TorontoTrekker]

Well, regardless, I'm leading a rebellion! I'm still putting two spaces after a period at the end of a sentence! The PTSAPES movement!

Wouldn't that be the PTSAAPATEOAS movement?

I do know that the Canadian Press style guide specifies only one space, as we used it when editing the panel listing for this year's Polaris programme book. I never saw the point in putting two spaces after a period - one is sufficient. You just have to choose a font that's not all crammed together.

I'm going to start a counter-protest - I'm calling it the Ban Over-Written Extraneous Language movement.

 

[galleywest]

Well, regardless, I'm leading a rebellion! I'm still putting two spaces after a period at the end of a sentence! The PTSAPES movement!

Wouldn't that be the PTSAAPATEOAS movement?

Of course not, that'd just be silly.

I do know that the Canadian Press style guide specifies only one space, as we used it when editing the panel listing for this year's Polaris programme book. I never saw the point in putting two spaces after a period - one is sufficient. You just have to choose a font that's not all crammed together.

I'm going to start a counter-protest - I'm calling it the Ban Over-Written Extraneous Language movement.

I will never surrender! Anyway, it doesn't count because you're Canadian. Your grammar (and spelling) laws don't apply to me!

 

[MetalPants]

I've been putting two spaces after a period for 20+ years now, and I don't see myself changing anytime soon.

 

[Daneel]

Like TorontoTrekker, I've always just used one space after a period. That's pretty much how I was taught to do it. I guess it is a Canadian thing.

Frankly, two spaces seems unnecessary.

 

[RoJoHen]

The 'double space' happens automatically with today's computer technology.

Except on the TrekBBS, where it automatically converts a double space into a single space.

I was taught that you use two spaces after a period (or something with the period at the bottom like question mark, exclamation mark, or colon) and one space after a comma (or something with a comma at the bottom, like the semi-colon).

 

[Adm_Hawthorne]

The 'double space' happens automatically with today's computer technology.

Except on the TrekBBS, where it automatically converts a double space into a single space.

I was taught that you use two spaces after a period (or something with the period at the bottom like question mark, exclamation mark, or colon) and one space after a comma (or something with a comma at the bottom, like the semi-colon).

Which was the basics when using a typewriter and, for some bizarre reason, has been passed into the age of computers. But, even MLA leans towards using single space after any type of punctuation now.

There's just no reason.

It was done on typewriters because there was no automatic indication of when a sentence ended.

 

[RoJoHen]

Typewriters didn't have periods? That seems like a pretty clear indication of when a sentence ends.

I like two spaces because I think it looks better. A single space at the end of a sentence, honestly, just doesn't seem like enough space to me. It makes sentences look cramped together.

 

[Adm_Hawthorne]

Typewriters didn't have periods? That seems like a pretty clear indication of when a sentence ends.

I like two spaces because I think it looks better. A single space at the end of a sentence, honestly, just doesn't seem like enough space to me. It makes sentences look cramped together.

No, typewriters used the same amount of space between letters as it did between any type of punctuation and a letter. Putting two spaces after the period helped to indicate the end of the a sentence. That is why there was only one space after a semi-colon but two after a period when you used a typewriter.

But, I suspect you knew what I meant.

 

[RoJoHen]

Typewriters didn't have periods? That seems like a pretty clear indication of when a sentence ends.

I like two spaces because I think it looks better. A single space at the end of a sentence, honestly, just doesn't seem like enough space to me. It makes sentences look cramped together.

No, typewriters used the same amount of space between letters as it did between any type of punctuation and a letter. Putting two spaces after the period helped to indicate the end of the a sentence. That is why there was only one space after a semi-colon but two after a period when you used a typewriter.

But, I suspect you knew what I meant.

But why should this be different just because we computers now instead of typewriters? You are implying that computers automatically add the double-space to the end of a sentence, but that has never been true of any computer I've ever used.

 

[Brent]

I learned 2 spaces, and that is what I'll continue to use. It is correct.

 

[Adm_Hawthorne]

Typewriters didn't have periods? That seems like a pretty clear indication of when a sentence ends.

I like two spaces because I think it looks better. A single space at the end of a sentence, honestly, just doesn't seem like enough space to me. It makes sentences look cramped together.

No, typewriters used the same amount of space between letters as it did between any type of punctuation and a letter. Putting two spaces after the period helped to indicate the end of the a sentence. That is why there was only one space after a semi-colon but two after a period when you used a typewriter.

But, I suspect you knew what I meant.

But why should this be different just because we computers now instead of typewriters? You are implying that computers automatically add the double-space to the end of a sentence, but that has never been true of any computer I've ever used.

Actually, it does. There is more space between a period and a letter in a word processing document than between a letter and a letter or another type of punctuation. PHP (meaning this message board) isn't set up that way, but, as with all things on the net, of course it doesn't follow the norm.

However, the argument can be used both ways.

Why should we continue to use an antiquated system of typing based on the needs of a machine most of us (and none of us posting right now) use for typing documents? There should be some progression and changes made as the technology we use grows and becomes less inhibited by things it is unable to do.

To simply be contrary just because seems counter productive to progress.

 

[RoJoHen]

No, typewriters used the same amount of space between letters as it did between any type of punctuation and a letter. Putting two spaces after the period helped to indicate the end of the a sentence. That is why there was only one space after a semi-colon but two after a period when you used a typewriter.

But, I suspect you knew what I meant.

But why should this be different just because we computers now instead of typewriters? You are implying that computers automatically add the double-space to the end of a sentence, but that has never been true of any computer I've ever used.

Actually, it does. There is more space between a period and a letter in a word processing document than between a letter and a letter or another type of punctuation. PHP (meaning this message board) isn't set up that way, but, as with all things on the net, of course it doesn't follow the norm.

Okay, you telling me it does doesn't make it true. I just tested it out in a word document, and the space after a period was exactly the same size as the space after a comma. I tested it several times to make sure.

Maybe certain programs automatically do a double space, or maybe there's a setting I can change to make it happen, but I'm telling you that I've never encountered it.

I was taught to use a double space. I am going to continue to use a double space. I think it looks better, and it makes sentences easier to read.

 

[scotpens]

Printer's fonts (and most fonts used in word processing) have proportional spacing. Typewriter fonts like Courier and Prestige Elite are monospaced; that is, every character takes up exactly the same width, whether it's a capital M, a lowercase i, a space, a numeral, or a punctuation mark. Those of us who grew up in the typewriter age were taught to double-space after a period because it made the break between sentences clearer.

Modern digital word processing doesn't work like a typewriter at all; it's much closer to traditional book and newspaper typesetting. It adjusts spacing between characters and between words automatically. When typing on a computer, there's no more need to double-space after a period than there is to hit a carriage return at the end of a line. (Oh, that damned bell!)

And there's no need to put a double return between paragraphs either, if you know how to use paragraph formatting.

 

[gturner]

A wider space after a period didn't start with the typewriter, it is part of our genetic and cultural heritage from the days when punctuation and spacing signaled a person to take a breathing pause as he recited God's holy word. Sentences with only one space after the period aren't really sentences, and thus their content is invalid, their creator is flawed and heretical, and they convey nothing but a nasty stench into the nostrils of God.

 

[M'Sharak]

Who's with me?!

Sorry to say, I've never had a typing class in my life, and only relatively recently became aware of the "two spaces after a period" business. I'm not opposed to two spaces, per se, but I lack the proper programming to actually do that. (BBS software won't show it as a double space, anyway.)

 

[scotpens]

A wider space after a period didn't start with the typewriter, it is part of our genetic and cultural heritage from the days when punctuation and spacing signaled a person to take a breathing pause as he recited God's holy word. Sentences with only one space after the period aren't really sentences, and thus their content is invalid, their creator is flawed and heretical, and they convey nothing but a nasty stench into the nostrils of God.

In fact, the original Hebrew text of the Old Testament has no spaces between words OR between sentences. What does God have to say about that?

 

[Red Ranger]

The people are revolting! The people are revolting!

THEY CERTAINLY ARE!