“Two spaces is wrong.”
— Farhad Manjoo explains why putting two spaces after a period at the end of a sentence is wrongwrongwrong.
I hear what he’s saying - that the two spaces is a holdover from using typewriters. But here’s the thing - I think it looks…
I can’t not do it. I learned to type on my own, and then took formal classes in ‘95. No one has ever said a word to me about it until I starting writing for the newspaper. The editor never told me he was silently removing the extra space. It wasn’t until another copyeditor got hold of my word something was said, and I was mortified. Now, if I do something for the paper I consciously take them out.
However, the official stance by the MLA is: At your professor’s or publication’s discretion. I’ve never had a grad professor say anything to me about it.
I’m on the other side of this argument …I can’t make myself type with two spaces…I haven’t used two spaces since middle school…
Oh. My. Flying. Spaghetti. Monster. There is almost no bigger pet peeve for me than people who put two goddamn spaces after a motherfucking period. This isn’t fourth grade. Are you planning to double-space your goddamn lines too? Trust me, friends, as a copy editor, all respect for what you’re writing will be shattered if an editor has to remove your motherfucking double spaces every goddamn sentence.
Oh, here’s another one that confounds me and I never saw it until I got into publishing. For some reason there are people who think a space exists before a comma or a period. Before.
So , for example , they write like this .
In a professional setting, this will cause me to speak to you like you’re in diapers and you still have a soft spot on your skull. And you fucking better if you write like that. GRRRRRRRRRR…..
Guess what? I’ll do whatever the fuck I want. If you don’t like it, well then don’t read it. I don’t write so you can critique how many fucking spaces I put after a period, or whether I double-space or not. C’mon, seriously? Fuck.
In my last job (this is when I worked on K Street), I would have been fired if I didn’t use two spaces after a period. The few times I accidentally forgot, you would have thought that I was randomly inserting profanities into legal documents while also slow-roasting new-born babies for fun. I am not kidding nor exaggerating. I actually filed an official complaint for abusive behavior because of it.
In a professional setting, I’ll stick with what I learned in Freshman Comp. When writing for enjoyment, I do what I like. Anyone who dislikes can (as stated above) read something else then. I couldn’t care less.
I was taught to use two spaces but I always thought it looked stupid so I only ever used one. Reading someone’s writing...
I was totally taught that two spaces was correct. It’s a habit that I can’t seem to break as I’ve been typing this way...
I was taught to use two spaces (as well as two spaces following a colon), so I’m actually kind of surprised that it’s...
Last year, my roommate and one of my friends (whose papers I was the official editor for), would do this. It is one of...
Spacing before punctuation is an old typewriting convention, more popular in Europe. In some languages it’s still...
How strange. I have never heard of people using two spaces after a period. I mean, that might be due to the fact that...
No, but Mike, you see, that’s all fine and dandy on your blog, or for your own personal writing or whatever. I couldn’t...
As someone who wants to get into copy editing, this is good to know.
In a professional setting, I’ll stick with what I learned in Freshman Comp. When writing for enjoyment, I do what I...
For professional writing, I thank god for find and replace. For anything else, screw it. I like two spaces.
See, it’s so weird to me that people DON’T put a second space. I always got major points taken off for not putting the...
I fail to see how it reflects IDIOCY on someone’s part when they were instructed by their typing teachers to type two...
Guess what? I’ll do whatever the fuck I want. If you don’t like it, well then don’t read it. I don’t write so you can...
Oh. My. Flying. Spaghetti. Monster. There is almost no bigger pet peeve for me than people who put two goddamn spaces...
I’m on the other side of this argument …I can’t make myself type with two spaces…I haven’t used two spaces since middle...
SCREW YOU ALL! TYPEWRITER FTW! (I always double-space. But then, I have 18 typewriters in my house. Go figure…)...
I’m not listening to your liberal media propaganda. TWO SPACES 4 LYFE.
BLASPHEMY! BLASPHEMY! BLASPHEMY! (throw holy water over all you bitches)