I remember being taught the two spaces after a period, when I took a typing class with a real typewriter, but as soon as I switched to computers with word processors I quit doing that. I'm not sure why, somebody must have told me because I rarely think to change my habits that way. What did surprise me recently was taking a typing test on a computer and the program specified I was to put in two spaces after a period! It made me wonder, since this was a test for a county job, if the county still had scads of typewriters in use in their offices.
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Delurking 1: Because we don't always check our e-mail.
SailAweigh - Oct 04, 2009 2:06:12 pm PDT #379 of 3094
Nana korobi, ya oki. (Fall down seven times, stand up eight.) ~Yuzuru Hanyu/Japanese proverb
Tom Scola - Oct 04, 2009 2:09:08 pm PDT #380 of 3094
Mr. Scola’s wardrobe by Botany 500
Gordon Brown, or Tony Blair?
megan walker - Oct 04, 2009 2:12:59 pm PDT #381 of 3094
"What kind of magical sunshine and lollipop world do you live in? Because you need to be medicated."-SFist
Why was two spaces needed for typewriting, but not now?
tiggy - Oct 04, 2009 2:13:16 pm PDT #382 of 3094
I do believe in killing the messenger, you know why? Because it sends a message. ~ Damon Salvatore
for what it's worth, i was taught two spaces after a period on a computer.
Polter-Cow - Oct 04, 2009 2:16:35 pm PDT #383 of 3094
What else besides ramen can you scoop? YOU CAN SCOOP THIS WORLD FROM DARKNESS!
As was I. I was confused when I got to college and discovered it was okay to just use one space. It took me a while to break the habit. Hell, I still see it sometimes.
Zenkitty - Oct 04, 2009 2:16:42 pm PDT #384 of 3094
Every now and then, I think I might actually be a little odd.
massive, multi-page macro
Steph, this, exactly! Couldn't live without it.
I now live in fear of posting more than a sentence here
oh, no, don't fear! Post! We like your sentences!
Yeah, what was with 2 spaces, anyway?
Amy - Oct 04, 2009 2:18:53 pm PDT #385 of 3094
Because books.
Yeah, what was with 2 spaces, anyway?
I think everything was given equal weight/space on a typewriter? So it was maybe to help distinguish that it was indeed a period, and the end of a sentence?
I'm not sure; there's a lot of typesetting from newspapers, etc., that predates me.
Barb - Oct 04, 2009 2:20:27 pm PDT #386 of 3094
“Not dead yet!”
for what it's worth, i was taught two spaces after a period on a computer.
Me too. As part of the prescribed style for academic papers.
Fay - Oct 04, 2009 2:35:57 pm PDT #387 of 3094
"Fuck Western ideologically-motivated gender identification!" Sulu gasped, and came.
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Una - Oct 04, 2009 3:02:50 pm PDT #388 of 3094
when i die, please bake my ashes into a brick and use me to hit fascists.
Two spaces after a period! My mom drilled that into me on the computer, but I reckon she learned it on the typewriter. I used it religiously until grad school when a journal to which I was submitting a paper specified one in no uncertain terms. That was a tough paper to write, but by the end I was retrained. *space space* "Gahh!!" *backspace* I still prefer two, though.
(Dear and fluffy Lord do I love when y'all go all grammar / punctuation geek. Maybe that means there's something wrong with me, but I'm a biochemist, so I think that ship has sailed.)