One thing I've heard of being taught in school's lately is to have one space BEFORE a comma. wtf is that?
this has to be a mistake, why teach something that is no way used anywhere else in the entire galaxy
― Fozzielad, Friday, 16 December 2011 14:23 (twelve years ago) link
To make the Klingons think they are travelling backwards.
― Y.O. Mini (MarkG oo la showaddywaddy), Friday, 16 December 2011 14:24 (twelve years ago) link
That is horrifying. How many spaces after a period is not something I care much about, but putting a space before a comma is MADNESS.
― Nicole, Friday, 16 December 2011 14:25 (twelve years ago) link
I want to start a poll on how people pluralize/use the possessive w/ nouns that end in s
My last name ends in -ss and I am a staunch advocate of 's because then I get -ss's. I want all the sss!
― wore glasses and said things (thejenny), Friday, 16 December 2011 14:32 (twelve years ago) link
kisses
asses
successes
― Y.O. Mini (MarkG oo la showaddywaddy), Friday, 16 December 2011 14:35 (twelve years ago) link
assesses
― Derek Pringles (Deep in the Tony Hart land), Friday, 16 December 2011 14:37 (twelve years ago) link
I never could decideSo I just stopped using punctuationAnd pressing return instead
― oPal, Friday, 16 December 2011 15:06 (twelve years ago) link
6/10/7
― Y.O. Mini (MarkG oo la showaddywaddy), Friday, 16 December 2011 15:07 (twelve years ago) link
Wait so what's the argument other than it's no longer necessary?
― ᶘ ᵒᴥᵒᶅ (~curious orange~), Friday, December 16, 2011 12:07 PM (2 hours ago) Bookmark Permalink
what it is is:
in typesetting, after a full stop (a full stop that ends a sentence - this does not apply to e.g. the full stops in e.g.) you have a slightly longer space than usual - an em-space. When the typewriter came in, using fixed-width type (i.e. type in which every character is one em wide), people evoked the longer-than-a-usual-space aspect of an em-space by using two spaces rather than one, the same way that people sometimes mimic an em-dash by using a double dash thus: --.
Using a variable-fixed font, the full stop crowds close to the word it follows, giving the impression that there is an em-space following the sentence-final full stop. Some word processors may even impose an em-space after a sentence-ending full-stop in the same way that they impose a capital letter.
They are thus both approximations toward the typographical norm but at present the one-space approximation is more close an approximation.
― c sharp major, Friday, 16 December 2011 15:09 (twelve years ago) link
From the unofficial Typographic 'bible'" The Elements of Typographic Style by Robert Bringhurst he has the following to say:
“In the nineteenth century, which was a dark and inflationary age in typography and type design, many compositors were encouraged to stuff extra space between sentences. Generations of twentieth century typists were then taught to do the same, by hitting the spacebar twice after every period [full stop]. Your typing as well as your typesetting will benefit from unlearning this quaint Victorian habit. As a general rule, no more than a single space is required after a period, colon or any other mark of punctuation.”
― Chewshabadoo, Friday, 16 December 2011 16:16 (twelve years ago) link
Sorry for my as usual unchecked first sentence!! I'm sure people more concerned at proof-reading that typography will be hating me as much as using 2 spaces annoys me.
― Chewshabadoo, Friday, 16 December 2011 16:17 (twelve years ago) link
He goes on to say:
"Larger spaces (e.g. en spaces) are themselves punctuation.
The rule is sometimes altered, however, when setting classical Latin and Greek, romanized Sanskrit, phonetics or other kinds of texts in which sentences begin with lowercase letters. In the absence of a capital, a full en space between sentences may be welcome.
― Chewshabadoo, Friday, 16 December 2011 16:21 (twelve years ago) link
"quaint Victorian habit"? lol I am a steampunk!
― clay/tone herbskirt nut/mother, Friday, 16 December 2011 16:24 (twelve years ago) link
I was taught to use two spaces, which I did up until a couple years ago when I successfully started using only one.
However, this thread is seriously making me think about switching back to two.
― well in (advance johnson), Friday, 16 December 2011 16:32 (twelve years ago) link
Knock yourself out, if I ever have to set your copy I know how find and replace works.
― Chewshabadoo, Friday, 16 December 2011 16:35 (twelve years ago) link
FIND: ". "REPLACE: "big fat hairy penis"
― Fozzielad, Friday, 16 December 2011 16:59 (twelve years ago) link
These arguments all boil down to "let us not forsake the gods of our fathers" vs. "god is dead, you silly geese".
― Aimless, Friday, 16 December 2011 17:00 (twelve years ago) link
When learning to write with a pen(cil) while in very early years at school, I remember vaguely being taught one finger width after a comma, two after a full stop. Not with typing though.
― Banned socks (Osoby), Friday, 16 December 2011 17:04 (twelve years ago) link
That's all very well, but what if you are an elephant?
― Y.O. Mini (MarkG oo la showaddywaddy), Friday, 16 December 2011 17:06 (twelve years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.
― System, Friday, 30 December 2011 00:01 (twelve years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFpsDAL4oKE
― another suggestbanite (rusty flathead screwdriver), Friday, 30 December 2011 00:14 (twelve years ago) link
Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.
― System, Saturday, 31 December 2011 00:01 (twelve years ago) link
Poll ResultsOption Votes1 762 12
About what I expected.
I use 1 space. In typing class we were taught 2 spaces (1991, on typewriters) and I kept doing it until ~2005 when I was SCHOCKED to learn that the rationale behind 2 spaces didn't apply to most typing on a computer.
It was not difficult at all to retrain myself, though the double-tap on the space bar did feel really satisfying.
― Sandbox Jesse, Saturday, 31 December 2011 16:35 (twelve years ago) link
Double-tapping two-space trogs is equally satisfying, imo.
― IEEE (Leee), Sunday, 1 January 2012 19:42 (twelve years ago) link
I am thinking this poll solves nothing. nothing. the bleak futility of it rises up and threatens to engulf me.
― Aimless, Sunday, 1 January 2012 19:58 (twelve years ago) link
i just got an iphone and i'm worried the period trick is gonna bring back some old habits
― k3vin k., Sunday, 1 January 2012 20:06 (twelve years ago) link