#Microblog Monday 284: Two Spaces After a Period
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I spent my life putting two spaces after every period. One space after a comma, two spaces after a period. Four publishing houses were unable to break me of this habit. I wrote my manuscript with two spaces, then did a search for two spaces throughout the document, and changed them to one space, as per each publishing house’s stylistic rules.
I don’t know what made me change, but a few months ago, I switched to one space. It was hard at first, but now I don’t think about it when I get to the end of the sentence. I just tap the spacebar once and move on to the next thought.
Sometimes I think to myself that I don’t have it in me to change. But I proved myself wrong this year. I went from two spaces to one. Though you won’t get me to change my mind on the Oxford comma.
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17 comments
I have seen younger people who are either in HR or submission editors say that if someone uses two spaces they know their old and don’t bother calling them in/assigning the piece.
* they’re
::sighs::
Two spaces forever! My phone knows, and puts in a period after I hit the space bar twice.
I also hate how that looks, stylistically speaking.
Now if you can just get my husband to change!! He refuses to listen to me that 2 spaces is a thing of the past because of how word processors set up pages.
I’ve only been able to get myself to change to the single-space in the past year or so, after reading several articles about it. Like you, I was taught to use two spaces after a period, and a single space just looked wrong.
I grew up with two spaces and honestly can’t remember when I started having to do the single space. But when I moved over my Blogger blog onto WordPress, it messed up everything and I have two spaces in all my old posts, and it’s too daunting to change them. But now being used to one space, it looks weird. I try not to think about it too much because it’ll drive me crazy. 🙂
I hate 2 spaces!! I’ve always been a single spacer. At my work we often share templates and sometimes I have to go thru and delete all the extra spaces.
Now if only the powers that be could get with me on punctuation in quotes…it will always seem wrong that a comma goes inside the quote…especially when it’s a single word…
This was a constant battle between the generations at work… nobody was saying “OK boomer” yet before I retired, but that was the message…! I was taught two spaces in Grade 9 typing class — ON a typewriter!! — back in (gulp) 1975. Try breaking the habit after THAT many years…!
I still use 2 spaces in everything but WordPress. Funny how my brain has it figured out. Now, let’s here it FOR the Oxford comma, I hope? 🙂
*hear [today must be the day for silly errors]
I was taught two spaces back when computers first came in at work. A secretary gave us all a lecture on how to minimise her editing work on our documents! lol I still remember an old diplomat looking bemused as they moved a computer into his office, saying, “but I use a fountain pen, why would I want one of these?”
It wasn’t until I heard someone say that two spaces marked me as old (exactly as 35jupe said) years ago that I forced myself to change. And now it annoys me if I go back to old documents and find two spaces. Thank goodness for “find and replace” editing!
I type two spaces and I don’t think I will ever change…
You can take my Oxford comma out of my cold, dead, and rigor-mortised hands! I’m with you on that one. I totally remember the double space, but at some point (and maybe it was when I worked at Scholastic and had to retype three books into two books for a special edition as an editorial assistant), it became the more natural thing to do one space. I don’t even remember what it was like to do two spaces. I just tried it and it was awkward and weird. But huzzah to making the switch, and proving that you can change a habit that was held on to for a long, long time!
Two spaces? Is that an American thing? no, Mali is from NZ, Loribeth from Can… mmhmm. Maybe because I never learned how to type. Or maybe because Europe is different? Now going off to find out what an Oxford comma is (was?) 😉
Oh the woes of those of us who took typing class on an actual (manual) typewriter! I think I finally got used to the one with the period spaces but still editors correct my capital letter (and sometimes 2 spaces) after the colons. I know it’s wrong but I’m a rebel and do it anyway knowing they’ll reprimand me for it.
I started using one space after a period a while ago. I’m wondering where I learned it? I thought it was you, but here we are at this post today. Huh.
It’s a hard habit to break! But once you do, you don’t go back.
Has it started to bother you yet when you see others using 2 spaces?
(Btw, I never noticed you using 2 spaces in emails.)