Yeah, we actually did get the occasional manuscript (and by "manuscript," I mean Word doc) with a line break at the end of every line (not sentence). As if it were typed on a typewriter. And when we asked the author to reformat it and remove the extra line breaks, they replied "I do not understand what you mean by 'extra line breaks'."
Every once in a while I sincerely can't believe the shit someone pulls, and that was one of them. I can't imagine how much of a pain in the ass it must be to write a long-ass medical article (we're talking 25-30 pages at least) and hit Return at the end of every line.
As for the rest of the xkcd, my feelings on number of spaces after a period are well-established, and go hand-in-hand with the fact that this is 2013 and no one uses monospace type anymore. (Though, to be fair, there are few things as satisfying as doing a find-and-replace on all those fucking fucking double spaces and changing them to single spaces.)
(And I'm hard-pressed to think of any style guide that uses 2 spaces. CMOS, MLA, APA, and AMA use a single space.)
Tep, that's what I do. It is easier for me to do a find and replace than unlearn the 2 spaces.
Tep, that's what I do. It is easier for me to do a find and replace than unlearn the 2 spaces.
I actually enjoyed getting manuscripts with 2 spaces, because then I could run the find/replace. So satisfying. Like clearing 4 rows in Tetris.
You will pry my double-spaces out of my cold, dead hands, which will still be reaching for the space bar.
I stand with Dana at the two-space barricade.
edit: cue the kerfuffle music, something a la Le Mis.
You will pry my double-spaces out of my cold, dead hands, which will still be reaching for the space bar.
This was me for a very long time. I've loosened up enough that I don't fight it if something's submitted with single spaces - but with docs from Engineers I still get enough of them that use both single and double IN THE SAME DOCUMENT (OFTEN THE SAME PARAGRAPH), I still get my panties in a bunch even without embracing the double to the exclusion of all others (Consistency, you Bastards!)
I unlearned two spaces as soon as I learned that one space was all that was needed.
It is a hard habit to break.
As recorded in the Chicago Manual of Style. "Being without two / Takes a lot of getting used to..."
I remove double spaces from every manuscript automatically, before I even start editing it.
Yeah, we actually did get the occasional manuscript (and by "manuscript," I mean Word doc) with a line break at the end of every line (not sentence). As if it were typed on a typewriter. And when we asked the author to reformat it and remove the extra line breaks, they replied "I do not understand what you mean by 'extra line breaks'."
Yep. That's happened to me more than once. These are Ph.D.'s, people. We have a program that removes extra line breaks. I don't know how it works. It may just be a small tired person in a dimly-lit room.
When I see CMOS, I think complementary metal-oxide semiconductor. If that doesn't make sense in context, then I remember it's Chicago Manual of Style.
