While I was taught on a manual typewriter (I can't believe you started on an electric!), It didn't take me long to adjust to the single space. The only thing I will never give up is my Oxford comma!
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How many spaces after a period?
- Thread starter rhett7660
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While I was taught on a manual typewriter (I can't believe you started on an electric!), It didn't take me long to adjust to the single space. The only thing I will never give up is my Oxford comma!
Actually, I did have a manual typewriter - so, yes, my first typewriter was a manual. As it happened, it was a gift from my mother, but I was essentially self-taught on that, the usual two and three or four fingered bashing of a keyboard.
In the summer of my first year at university, my mother actually sent me on a course in a professional secretarial & typing school to learn to type (and she paid for the course), as she thought that learning to type would be a useful skill, for essays, papers, and anything else I might want to write, so I was taught properly.
And, yes, my first typewriter was a portable manual - my own - but, - especially after I did the course, I used my mother's typewriter - that fantastic IBM golfball - fairly frequently, especially if she was out.
Sounds like our mothers had the same thought pattern. Same story here.
That is funny, and sweet and interesting.
It is only in later years that you realise how much they were looking out for you, whereas, at the time, you grumbled at being sent off yet again to do something else (such as another course).
My mother was a company secretary (and was also the company treasurer) and I suspect that the manual typewriter (it was a lovely little portable manual that had a gorgeous little case) may have been a gift to her; anyway, it came my way, - I was thrilled with it - as owning it meant that it fed into my self image as someone who wanted to be a writer among other things.
In fairness, my mother always encouraged my brother and I to write - and we both had access to her typewriter whenever we wanted to use it. I think he may have been sent on a typing course - at his own request, or, at her suggestion - also.
We were both handy with a keyboard long before most of our peers at university - (in those days, there was a bit of snobbery about typing, it was seen as something secretaries did), and it also meant that writing for any of the college student magazines (which we both did) was a bit of a breeze.
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Oh, I am quite passionate about - and very attached to - the Oxford comma, too, rest assured.
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"That is just what I was taught," and "That's just how I grew up," are the home to some very bad ideas, the least of which is spacing after periods.
Two spaces.
OCD kicks in when my double space in code gets gets formatted back to single space during online display. <like here> I have yet to be bothered by it enough to write a little js to fix this. Someday CSS will come out with: :last-word or something like that, so that I can add a simple styling fix to satisfy my OCD.
OCD kicks in when my double space in code gets gets formatted back to single space during online display. <like here> I have yet to be bothered by it enough to write a little js to fix this. Someday CSS will come out with: :last-word or something like that, so that I can add a simple styling fix to satisfy my OCD.
Yes, so true. This reminds me of a quote, by a musician I am forgetting, so I will paraphrase: People focus on the wrong thing when learning to play music. Playing the notes is easy. It's knowing when not to play a note which is difficult.
Agreed. At work, I cringe whenever I hear someone say "we've always done it this way" or "this is how we used to do at my old firm."
If the best argument one can come up with to justify something is habit and history, then they should really re-evaluate whether that really is the best course of action.
That's how the world works! There's always fewer people in society who can step up and actually try new things. I've moved to one space after periods simply because I was taught two spaces and I really cannot find a reason why two is better. I agree with others that on the printed page, two spaces looks better but even that depends on the type set. Newspapers and novels use older type sets so two spaces makes it easier to read.
You think two spaces after a period makes the "very bad ideas" list?
- One space for proportional-spaced fonts (most computer fonts).
- Two spaces for monospace fonts (courtier, loucida, anything that looks like a typewriter).
At the end, it doesn't matter. If you notice on Microsoft Word, if you put one or two spaces at the end of a sentence, the actual space they take up is the same. Putting two spaces after a proportional font squishes each of the spaces to be half as wide. Putting one space produces a wider space. The net width of blankness between sentences remains the same.
This is exactly why I always use two spaces. That way I don't have to worry about what font I am typing in. Proportional fonts will automatically make two spaces the same size as one, but if I'm using a monospace font it will leave a larger space, which is what I want.
This is actually still up for debate too. Two of the major writing standards APA and MLA disagree. APA says to use two spaces, MLA says to use one space. Other writing standards have differing thoughts as well.
I also believe that the push for single spacing came along in the 80s along with the big recycling push and not wasting paper. On a long paper or in a book using only one space instead of two after a period could save a decent amount of paper.
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If I'm typing on a typewriter then it's two spaces. I've got an old manual* I use from time to time; absolutely hate electric typewriters. They have all the drawbacks of a word processor (spamming if you leave your finger on the key too long) and none of the benefits (easy correction).
On a computer or word processor, it's one space.
Two spaces if typewriter, one space if computer is the rule I abide by.
*It's an Olivetti Underwood Studio 44 I got from Goodwill for $20. Took a bit of TLC to get it back into usable condition. The letters don't line up correctly, but that only gives it character.
On a computer or word processor, it's one space.
Two spaces if typewriter, one space if computer is the rule I abide by.
*It's an Olivetti Underwood Studio 44 I got from Goodwill for $20. Took a bit of TLC to get it back into usable condition. The letters don't line up correctly, but that only gives it character.
Like others in this thread I was taught to use two spaces after punctuation at the end of a sentence in my formal education. I realize it has changed with technology now and honestly I generally tend to use just one space now. There are times I find myself using two spaces out of habit.
And this was my first typewriter... (was loooong time ago)
I almost forgot: one space after a period.
I am a writer. My habits are two spaces after a period, but I understand that with modern systems this is no longer needed. In fact the authoring software that I use (FrameMaker) by default prevents two spaces after a period.
I would say that more important than "one or two" is to stay consistent. I edit documents from other people and I often see a mixed bag of both one and two, or sometimes even three.
Engineers in particular like to sprinkle extra spaces and punctuation all over the document as if from a salt shaker. This keeps me employed.
I would say that more important than "one or two" is to stay consistent. I edit documents from other people and I often see a mixed bag of both one and two, or sometimes even three.
Engineers in particular like to sprinkle extra spaces and punctuation all over the document as if from a salt shaker. This keeps me employed.
This is very interesting and maybe a cultural difference, or I've simply forgotten.
I took typing in high school (well worth it) and they never said anything, ever about two spaces after a period (.). 
I use a mixture of both, just to keep readers off balance and guessing what I will do next
Agreed!And this was my first typewriter... (was loooong time ago)
I almost forgot: one space after a period.
The first time I saw an electric typewriter I was awed, and then, then, this largish 24 lb word processor, no white out or having to retype a page, incredible! I remember something like:
Mobile computing!Agreed!
The first time I saw an electric typewriter I was awed, and then, then, this largish 24 lb word processor, no white out or having to retype a page, incredible! I remember something like:
I never saw a type writer in school unless I was at the headmasters office (again!).
I think I used a computer about twice (BBC something or other) at school.
We had a commador Vic 20 at home, but never learnt to touch type. Wish I had.
I stubbornly continued to use two spaces, even when I was writing on the internet where the software automatically converted it to one. It's because I, like everyone else, was taught to use two spaces in typing class.
Then when I did a little web publishing myself, I noticed how weird two spaces could look. In some cases when somebody sends me Word text to post on the web, when I copy and paste it, it retains the two spaces...and it just looks wrong.
I do some text and graphics for public service announcements in my job as well, and more than one space looks wrong there, as well. So I decided to try using only one space when typing. It was a much quicker, easier transition than I thought it would be. After all, it's not easy for us sexagenarians to un-learn old habits.
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Then when I did a little web publishing myself, I noticed how weird two spaces could look. In some cases when somebody sends me Word text to post on the web, when I copy and paste it, it retains the two spaces...and it just looks wrong.
I do some text and graphics for public service announcements in my job as well, and more than one space looks wrong there, as well. So I decided to try using only one space when typing. It was a much quicker, easier transition than I thought it would be. After all, it's not easy for us sexagenarians to un-learn old habits.
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...And makes it easier for the cops to trace those threatening letters you've been writing....*It's an Olivetti Underwood Studio 44 I got from Goodwill for $20. Took a bit of TLC to get it back into usable condition. The letters don't line up correctly, but that only gives it character.
I use a mixture of both, just to keep readers off balance and guessing what I will do next
Sorry to disappoint but it's too late to put me off balance as I've spent awhile in PRSI forum, so...I of course learned to type two spaces and think it looks more like A FULL STOP that way, so I dislike forum software and comments software that ditch the extra one. I especially long for the two spaces in long paragraphs; there's nothing to break up a wall of text like the sudden appearance of two white spaces.
Naturally enough in social media, when constrained --by Twitter, or some comments sections with character limits-- I will edit out just about anything that doesn't seem essential in order to make the quota. I've been known to leave out apostrophes from words like "doesn't".
As far as em dash is concerned, I learned to type it as two hyphens on a standard typewriter so I usually still do it that way.
Slightly off topic: wow, out of curiosity the other day, I took the cover off an old Hermes typewriter and stuck a sheet of paper in it and typed "a quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog".... that old test phrase having at least one occurrence of every letter in the English alphabet. I have to say using a manual typewriter was more work than I had remembered it to be, that's for sure. If were not still playing a piano now and then, I don't know if I'd have had the strength to depress the manual typewriter keys used by the fourth and pinky fingers. Using a computer's keyboard all this time has definitely spoiled me.
I of course learned to type two spaces and think it looks more like A FULL STOP that way, so I dislike forum software and comments software that ditch the extra one. I especially long for the two spaces in long paragraphs; there's nothing to break up a wall of text like the sudden appearance of two white spaces.
Naturally enough in social media, when constrained --by Twitter, or some comments sections with character limits-- I will edit out just about anything that doesn't seem essential in order to make the quota. I've been known to leave out apostrophes from words like "doesn't".
As far as em dash is concerned, I learned to type it as two hyphens on a standard typewriter so I usually still do it that way.
Slightly off topic: wow, out of curiosity the other day, I took the cover off an old Hermes typewriter and stuck a sheet of paper in it and typed "a quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog".... that old test phrase having at least one occurrence of every letter in the English alphabet. I have to say using a manual typewriter was more work than I had remembered it to be, that's for sure. If were not still playing a piano now and then, I don't know if I'd have had the strength to depress the manual typewriter keys used by the fourth and pinky fingers. Using a computer's keyboard all this time has definitely spoiled me.
Oh, heavens, yes, I think I know exactly what you mean.
One of the big surprises - and joys - of using a computer - was the need to use less force.
While I loved the old manual typewriters (and loved the idea of me, as "a writer," doing this bashing of a keyboard), I can well imagine that the force needed is a bit more than one has become used to in daily life. Hard work.