Here's a fellow who's been using computers since at least the mid-1980s, a guy whose globetrotting tech-wizardry has come to symbolize all that's revolutionary about the digital age. Yet when he sits down to type, Julian Assange reverts to an antiquated habit that would not have been out of place in the secretarial pools of the 1950s: He uses two spaces after every period. Which—for the record—is totally, completely, utterly, and inarguably wrong.
Oh, Assange is by no means alone. Two-spacers are everywhere, their ugly error crossing every social boundary of class, education, and taste.
What? What are you talking about, you whippersnapper? Who changed the rules?
Here's the thing, though: Monospaced fonts went out in the 1970s. First electric typewriters and then computers began to offer people ways to create text using proportional fonts. Today nearly every font on your PC is proportional. (Courier is the one major exception.) Because we've all switched to modern fonts, adding two spaces after a period no longer enhances readability, typographers say. It diminishes it.
Oh. Dammit. All this time I've belonged to a reviled sub-group - the double spacers - and I didn't even know it? Lovely! Now I'll just gather up my antiquated double spaces and slink off. Uphill. Both ways. In the snow. Barefoot.
Sigh.
H/T Hot Air
I learned how to type as a freshman in high school. We had Underwood manual typewriters with no labeling on the keys. And yes, we used double spaces after periods. Mrs. Zeigler was relentless, and all of us girls were quite proficient by the end of the school year (yes, typing was an all-girls class back then, just like home ec).
ReplyDeleteSometime later, my mom bought an electric for the family business. I could flat fly on that sucker! :)
I read this, this morning, and decided that I would change my evil ways, as well.
ReplyDeleteFrom now on I will double-space between each word. Sentences will be followed by a triple-space. Bleah! So, there.
I actually typed the second paragraph of the prior comment with double and triple spacing as noted. But of course, the nanny-blogger would not allow that to stand.
ReplyDeleteHmmm...if the nanny blogger allows us to double space after a period...then it must be right! Hah! :)
ReplyDeleteHmmm... I have no idea when, exactly, I converted from a double-spacer to a single-spacer. It must have been some time in the past five years or so.
ReplyDeleteI, too, learned on some sort of manual typewriter, and typed many papers on it- a slow process as there were a few weak keys (or was it me?) that required at least one backspace-restrike. We finally got a used electric when I was in high school. That sucker was great; it put little holes in the center of all the lower case "o"s.
I actually typed the second paragraph of the prior comment with double and triple spacing as noted. But of course, the nanny-blogger would not allow that to stand.
ReplyDeleteCome to think of it- I'm pretty sure some old blog that I used to post on (back in the early, frontier days of the intertnets) would strip out the second space in all of my comments. That's probably what finally broke me of my double-space addiction.
Hah! I'm a double spacer too. I too was taught to double space at teh end of a sentence, by my fierce teacher Miss Marshall. I'm doing it right now as I type. ;))
ReplyDeleteFunnily enough when I learned to type in Hebrew, also on a manual typewriter back in the dark ages (just imagine - it goes backwards, and instead of pushing the carriage back to the left, you pulled the carriage to the right! :D), I was taught to single space after a sentence.
So I do one thing in English and one thing in Hebrew.
Go figure... :-/
I think someone told me to single space after periods in the early '90's, so I was broken of the habit a long time ago.
ReplyDeleteMy typing method is a combination touch-type and hunt-and-peck. I know the general layout of the keyboard, but I don't know it precisely. Therefore, I can find the letters quickly, but I do have to look when I type them.
I had a journalism class when I was in junior high school, and we typed out the school newspaper on mimeograph stencils. One day we were a bit behind schedule, so I was sent to the typing room to type one of the stencils. It was the typing teacher's break period, but she wanted to be there when I started to make sure I knew what I was doing. The typewriters had unlabled keys. I did everything I could remember from my typing class (which did not have unlabled keys) to make her think I knew what I was doing. She was finally convinced and left the room.
I knew there would be lots of women in my 11th grade typing class. That, plus thinking it would be a class I might get a passing grade, drew me in.
ReplyDeleteIt was a good move on my part, as it was the only class in which I received a passing grade that year.
And really... if I were to say what has been the most useful skill I ever learned it would be touch typing. I can't begin to tell you the ways in which it has effected my life.
But, to the topic. You bet, double space. I don't know when I lost the habit, but surely from MS Word.
I knew there would be lots of women in my 11th grade typing class...
ReplyDelete;)
Er, ah, "on topic"...
I didn't know about the "double space" thingie until today.
I never took typing at all.
I could only type computer code until I had to start writing long technical specs.
I didn't even know I could touch type until a wise-ass friend dared me to use his Das Keyboard... and I could!
And I didn't go looking for the "women" in 11th grade, they all came looking for me. 8D
(OK, one of those statements is bullshit, I'll leave you all to figure out which one...)
LMAO lewy!
ReplyDeleteMcMegan trashes single spacers, channels Charlton Heston.
ReplyDeletePardon me, but just how does the evolution of fonts and symmetry erase a long standing grammatical rule? Because someone just up and says it's so one day? The principle purpose of the double space was never symmetry, so why do I need to change?
ReplyDeleteIt's bad enough when word processing software does it for me...like how it JUST DID in this comment!! x(
WAIT A MINUTE!
ReplyDeleteNo two spaces??
Since when?
I am a two spacer person.. learning to type off an electric typewriter.
I agree with Aridog... who erased this long stating grammatical rule? Software does it for you!!! How can it be wrong if even our top word processing software providers still do it?
All I can say to this so called new rule: WHATEVER!
KC....donno about you, but to make MS Word 2003 and later behave, IIRC, I had to go in to it and turn off various macros and "editing" features.
ReplyDelete"Blogger's nanny editor" single spaces everything for you here.
One day soon I'm sure the font-fascists will have the word processor software "justify" everything so everything is written in nice neat square blocks.
My,oh my, how DID we ever manage to take care of ourselves on our own?
this is a test.
ReplyDeletex. X // single space
x. X // double space
x. X // double
Aha.
ReplyDeleteIndeed, two spaces are "normalized" into one space. It's a "feature".
So, if you want double spaces after a period, you _can_ do it - except that instead of typing two spaces, you have to type (just copy that and past it into the comment form.) This is the code for two back to back non-breaking spaces in HTML character entity form. (Aren't you glad you asked?)
I could maybe add a button, similar to the "Emoticon Menu" button above to insert this double space code directly into the comment box, if people feel that strongly.
Heh, after all that - and now, actually considering the substance of the issue - I have to agree with the Slate article. Double space after a period is no longer necessary.
ReplyDeleteInterestingly, the font used in the comment box - when you're composing a comment - is monospaced (Courier). So it's natural for those in the habit to double space.
But proportional fonts do change the situation. E.g., if you submit a book manuscript to a publisher, the double spaces will be removed before typesetting.
So far from a "grammatical rule", the double space is merely a lexical convention - and an ephemeral one at that; an artifact of a particular epoch of limited typographic technology.
Also a way to save a few cents? A several hundred page novel, with double spaces, or without. At least a several page savings I would guess. I mean the guys laying lead in the old days could have cared less I suspect... well, actually, I bet they liked it.
ReplyDeleteJust another something we need adapt to, or not.
And yes, Lewy, they were women, and I placed myself right in the middle of them. It all worked out well :)
Lewy14 said: "...and an ephemeral one at that; an artifact of a particular epoch of limited typographic technology"
ReplyDeleteSounds like Harry Reid or Nancy Pelosi writing about the Constitution? :D
Obviously (grammatical rules), I don't get to make stuff up like a politician. It is so unfair! =))
Oh, wait
Lewy14 also said:"So, if you want double spaces after a period, you _can_ do it - ....'
ReplyDeleteI hereby recommend Lewy for a federal Senior Executive Service (SES) appointment post haste....he knows how to fix things, even if it requires 12 key strokes instead of 2. Perfect!! :))
PS: Actually, he had no choice, because the typographical ninjas have already polluted the porridge, so to speak...it always takes more effort to fix dumb sh*t imposed by others!
imgw:"http://i4.photobucket.com/albums/y128/aridog/Protestors-oldfolks.jpg"
ReplyDelete