the delphic expanse

Slate has a nifty article about this antiquated habit.


Why You Should Never Put Two Spaces Between Sentences

It's good to know, but I imagine there are a lot of people in the same boat as myself who haven't had a typing class in 25 years or longer. When you're taught a certain way and your grade depends on it, it's hard to break the habit after so many years. I mean, who re-takes typing, in order to find this stuff out? It's like expecting my age cohort to be able to do "new math" - I couldn't, because they weren't teaching it that way when I was in school. This is one of those things you can't expect the average person to "just know" (unless they have occasion to be presented with a link like this one).

Oh, I agree. I was taught the double space thing in high school typing. But I have written nonfiction professionally, and various editors drilled into me not to use the double space habit, which is the only reason I don't do it. However, as an editor, teacher and beta, I encounter it so often that I find myself second-guessing whether or not its okay. It's good to have confirmation. It's certainly not the worst habit in the world, but it is not necessary.

Finally, an article that takes on one of my pet peeves of writing!

I'm a one-spacer, but it's because I worked for close to 15 years at a newspaper. I will admit that it took me a while to adjust to one space, since I was taught that all papers typed for college needed two spaces. My son even says some of his professors still insist on two spaces.

But what really surprises me about this article, which credits the typography/printing industry with the preference to use one space at the end of sentences, is that it didn't mention a very obvious reason for using only one space: Two spaces at the end of a sentence can throw off the typesetting itself, bumping the next sentence down a line. If the extra space wasn't there, the first word or the first syllable of a word (which would be hyphenated) of the next sentence might fit at the end of the typeset line. When you're using a "justified" format, i.e., where each line is spread out to fill the entire column, an extra space at the end of a sentence sometimes results in a jagged appearance at the right side of the column. It can wind up making one paragraph look like it's two.

I've been told that some web sites take the extra space out when you post, but I've also been to some that don't.

"A space signals a pause," says David Jury, the author of About Face: Reviving The Rules of Typography. "If you get a really big pause—a big hole—in the middle of a line, the reader pauses. And you don't want people to pause all the time. You want the text to flow."

The key phrase here is all the time. A pause now and then is good, but I find too many gaps distracting. I've always thought that the reader shouldn't be distracted from the story by how it's written, which is sentence structure, punctuation and, in this case, the spaces. When a reader is paying too much attention to how the story is put together, the story suffers.

Okay, I'll get down off my soapbox now.

*raises hand* Typesetter for 14 years here. Also one of my pet peeves.

"River of white space," anyone? I didn't read the article but I bet that was mentioned.

As a person that was beaten with the double space stick 20 yrs ago, I appreciate the information in the article but didn't care for the tone. Actually, there are a few choice words that come to mind for the author of that article, all single spaced.

crystalswolf wrote:As a person that was beaten with the double space stick 20 yrs ago, I appreciate the information in the article but didn't care for the tone. Actually, there are a few choice words that come to mind for the author of that article, all single spaced.

Exactly. I didn't appreciate the snark and condescension, especially when you consider that such a small part of the population writes or sets type for a living. WTF? I spent the last 20+ years in retail and hair--what the crap did I need to know about the one space rule for? (Yes. I ended a sentence with a preposition. Bite me. I'm just that annoyed.) That's why even as a fanzine editor, that was something I never really busted anyone's chops for. (Did it again.) While I was aware that there was a movement toward one space after a sentence, I didn't know that it had become a "rule" or that some blogger was going to want to send the spacing police after me. I understand where the people who deal with this for a living are coming from, but imho, I kind of bristle at the "pet peeve" thing a little because I don't see how it's something that would be general knowledge even though it "should" be. There is a big portion of the population who doesn't "know better" because they have no reason to know/believe that the rules have changed.

In fact, in the course of doing my homework for my Writing Style and Technology class, I was just discussing with Honeybee the concept that alienating your readers isn't exactly the way to get them to listen to you.

crystalswolf wrote:As a person that was beaten with the double space stick 20 yrs ago, I appreciate the information in the article but didn't care for the tone. Actually, there are a few choice words that come to mind for the author of that article, all single spaced.

Yeah, Crystalswolf, I was thinking the same thing! There are ways, and there are ways, of saying something without coming across making me feel like I've been wrong for over 30 years - and a jerk for doing so. Actually, when I first started seeing the 1 space being used, I thought it was another difference between 2 countries.

I am also a typist by trade, for over 30 years now, but that doesn't mean I can't learn something new, only that it won't come easy - I type without thinking. However, I take heart from the fact that if I can remember use the American standard spelling instead of the Aussie way (well for the most part - though I do miss things because I didn't know there's another way to spell a certain word!), then, eventually, I'll get used to using 1 space.

Speaking of...

I think I've removed all the extra spacings!!!

I guess I owe people an apology. Sorry, I didn't mean to offend anyone or hurt anyone's feelings. It's just that I've probably spent hours taking out superfluous spaces trying to make the archive look slick and pretty, and it was nice to have backup that I was indeed correct. I'll let Aquarius post in this section from now on because I let the fact that I am worn down by this cloud my judgment.

Honeybee, if I gave you the impression I was mad at you, I apologize, that's not what it was about at all. It's good information to have and I stand by that--I just didn't dig the way the blogger imparted it. Factor in that I'm in a class that's very focused on the tone of writing especially in the realm of the internet--I'm sort of more "keyed in" to that sort of thing these days, I suppose. So my reaction wasn't to you, and I'm sorry if it hurt your feelings. You were being helpful--the blogger was being a booger.