Responses to reading randomly

 

Do we put two spaces or one after the end of a sentence?  We got a delightful range of responses:

“Funny.   we have had this discussion a couple of times, most recently just a couple of weeks ago.  I'm a two spacer and she's a one spacer...”

“Yes they teach only one now. I learned with a manual typewriter and two.”

“I’m with you, Steve.  I can’t seem to break the two-space habit.  And, I think it looks better and is easier to read also.  Then again …”

 

“There are also instances where 1 1/2 spaces appear in computer work.”

 

“Only the illiterate ones.  Two spaces is not a phenomena of typewriters, it's an aspect of "correct writing".  (There may be a small issue here regarding the use of Microsoft Word - a haphazard piece of shit word processing software created by a person interested in market penetration rather than excellence and craftsmanship, but who can argue with $40,000,000,000 - in a country where the pursuit of power trumps all and power is defined by money, but I digress) I think WordPerfect sometimes inserts two spaces, but tends to display your wishes and was created by people who felt you knew what you wanted. You obviously caught me on a rant plain . . . I have issues with Microsoft, which are compounded when I have to pdf all my WordPerfect documents because so many out there are happy with once free software that is limited in scope but useless when preparing scientific documents with analytical data - it's a function of the use of pull down menus where some 16 year old geek decides he knows what you want, and if that's not true then you are beyond the pale and it's OK to marginalize you. That's my story and I'm sticking to it.”

“My kids have been taught to use one space, and mock me for using two.”

 

“If you google this you’ll discover a raging debate in progress.  I’m stuck on two spaces.  I think it’s easier to read.  Much easier.  Some software removes the “extra” space.  I put the space back in.  But the software takes it out again.  Arghh!”

 

“I broke (the two space habit) instantly. I had an editor come back on a book manuscript and ask me to take out all those “old fashioned” extra spaces.  That’s all it took.”

 

“It seem like youngsters are failing to use a lot of the writing and grammar rules we grew up with.”

 

“Geeze, for me the gap is determined by where the fountain pen happens to land.  Another advantage of cursive is the solution to the question, does the close quote come before the period or after?  In longhand I put them one over the other, problem solved.”

 

 

That concludes the responses, but now I have a new question.  Do schools teach our children to type now, like they did when we were kids?  I haven’t heard about typing class in Middle School or High School.  Do kids just grow up knowing how to type?  Are they taught in school to use all their fingers on keyboards; do they teach them to type with their thumbs?