The period connundrum

F

Frumpy Frampton

Contributor
Veteran X
Not menstration you douches.

Okay, so in school I was taught two spaces after a sentence, always. I am interning for gizmodo.com and I was told otherwise that having two spaces after a sentence went out with typewriters. Two spaces was required to help distinguish between sentences. Anyway so now I am pisses at the school district I learned from because we were taught the wrong method that ended up making me look like a fool. But now, the hardest part is trying to break this damn habit. Putting two spaces after a period is something I never thought about, just did it. And now after every day sentence I have to slow down and make sure that only one space is used.

So was everyone taught two spaces? Or is it just my stupid southwest kansas school district?

Hell quitting smoking was easier for me than putting one space after a sentence.
 
I was only taught to put one, though other people in my high school used two. One is all that's necessary. Luckily for you, HTML and it's non-non-breaking spaces keeps you from looking like a fool when you mess up! ;)
 
How many spaces should I leave after a period or other concluding mark of punctuation?
Publications in the United States today usually have the same spacing after a punctuation mark as between words on the same line. Since word processors make available the same fonts used by typesetters for printed works, many writers, influenced by the look of typeset publications, now leave only one space after a concluding punctuation mark. In addition, most publishers' guidelines for preparing a manuscript on disk ask authors to type only the spaces that are to appear in print.

Because it is increasingly common for papers and manuscripts to be prepared with a single space after all punctuation marks, this spacing is shown in the examples in the MLA Handbook and the MLA Style Manual. As a practical matter, however, there is nothing wrong with using two spaces after concluding punctuation marks unless an instructor or editor requests that you do otherwise.

http://www.mla.org/style_faq3
 
I was taught to put two, and so I put two. Who fucking cares? It's not going to kill anyone to put two.
 
I was taught two, but that was back in the typewriter age. So I use two.

I think at this point it is a preference and there is no hard rule. In most web browsers, even if you put in two spaces in the text, they will only show one, so on the theory that as the web goes, so goes written communication, one will probably be the norm.

Edit: If that is true we will also start spelling you're as ur.

I am shuddering.
 
Ixiterra said:
How ironic that we should trust your opinion. :p:
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Funny that you point that out instead of the fact that he only used one space after the period.
 
Fool said:
I was taught to put two, and so I put two. Who fucking cares? It's not going to kill anyone to put two.
Click to expand...

Kind of does. For example I am a journalism student and having 1 extra space means there will be more body copy, more presses, more pages, more prints, more money, etc.
 
Pick a better major you bloodsucking opportunistic subjective ambulance chaser.
 
Fool said:
Funny that you point that out instead of the fact that he only used one space after the period.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I mis-spelled sentence. But the single space is inevitable - HTML rendering reduces any number of space greater than one to a single space.
 
Fool said:
Funny that you point that out instead of the fact that he only used one space after the period.
Click to expand...
Note my earlier post in this thread:

Luckily for you, HTML and it's non-non-breaking spaces keeps you from looking like a fool when you mess up!
Click to expand...

Acknowledge your lack of HTML prowess and bow down to the master!

(Hint: anything more than one space that doesn't use the non-breaking space HTML code,  , will show up as one space.)
 
Toast said:
Not menstration you douches.

Okay, so in school I was taught two spaces after a sentence, always. I am interning for gizmodo.com and I was told otherwise that having two spaces after a sentence went out with typewriters. Two spaces was required to help distinguish between sentences. Anyway so now I am pisses at the school district I learned from because we were taught the wrong method that ended up making me look like a fool. But now, the hardest part is trying to break this damn habit. Putting two spaces after a period is something I never thought about, just did it. And now after every day sentence I have to slow down and make sure that only one space is used.

So was everyone taught two spaces? Or is it just my stupid southwest kansas school district?

Hell quitting smoking was easier for me than putting one space after a sentence.
Click to expand...

Lev is the devil. Continue putting in two spaces just to irritate him. Tell him I made you do it.
 
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