'Fess up, Neatoramanauts. Who amongst you type two spaces after a period?
Well, according to Farhad Manjoo of Slate, you're wrong. Dead wrong:
What galls me about two-spacers isn't just their numbers. It's their certainty that they're right. Over Thanksgiving dinner last year, I asked people what they considered to be the "correct" number of spaces between sentences. The diners included doctors, computer programmers, and other highly accomplished professionals. Everyone—everyone!—said it was proper to use two spaces. Some people admitted to slipping sometimes and using a single space—but when writing something formal, they were always careful to use two. Others explained they mostly used a single space but felt guilty for violating the two-space "rule." Still others said they used two spaces all the time, and they were thrilled to be so proper. When I pointed out that they were doing it wrong—that, in fact, the correct way to end a sentence is with a period followed by a single, proud, beautiful space—the table balked. "Who says two spaces is wrong?" they wanted to know.
Typographers, that's who: Link
Comments (80)
http://xk9.com/bones/tt-012
There is nothing arbitrary about this rule. It is a typographic standard. Microsoft Word defaults to eliminate the second space.
If you don't mind driving a purple car or having your text look unprofessional, feel free to flaunt your ignorance for all to see.
Oh and wouldn't it be copywriters that would decide what is and isn't correct for 'copy' rather than typesetters or does the typesetter job cover more areas than I think?
Ted- I wouldn't call heart problems and diabetes laziness...
After years of fighting with the USPS about requesting non-delivery of the "pizza papers", I discovered a database of their regulations. I used the USPS own rules and regulations against them to stop getting the "pizza papers" in my box. They didn't take it well though.
The employees did not even know of this rule. I am betting that he did not know of it either. If he had, he probably would have told the people on his route about it.
More power to ya buddy
Plus, I bet if you supporters were the business owners who paid money to create these ads, you would be upset.
I think it was because he was lazy and not for the good of it all, because as Ali stated he could have put these ads in a recycling bin.
Frau, if you figured a way to keep the stuff that annoys you out of your mailbox with the legalese of the USPS, that is fabulous! Share with others, please! My own personal pet peeve is people other than my carrier slipping stuff into my mailbox. I find that many religious organizations are prone to doing that, and I've complained formally about it. People put strange things in the mail. Every spring brings baby chickens, ducks, and bees. Once a full grown peacock went through our local PO. How would you like to deliver that?
Doing something "wrong" is sometimes necessary to get a point across, and if he were my mailman, I would have definitely stood up for him.
I still call laziness. That's not pointing out the rules like a five-year-old. That's just stating the obvious.
yeah like a Zombie is alive.