One Space Or Two After a Period?

[albionmoonlight]

What say you, typography/grammar nerds?

[wustin]

I was taught in elementary school to do two spaces. Then I got to college and just did one.

[Logan]

I'm not voting because I don't actually care. But it was considered correct to use two spaces for my first job out of college which I had for almost a decade, so out of habit I still use two when typing in Word or sending work emails even though I'm long gone from there.

In all other situations I use one.

[nilodor]

2 spaces if you use ragged right edge. 1 space if your type is justified. If you use 2 spaces and justified type, you will be shot. The two biggest arguments in my office in the 8 years I've been here are 2 spaces after a period and test hole vs bore hole.

[flere-imsaho]

Where do you work, nilodor? 1991?

[nilodor]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

Where do you work, nilodor? 1991?

Judging by the outfits alone, yes.

[BishopMVP]

Originally Posted by Logan

I'm not voting because I don't actually care. But it was considered correct to use two spaces for my first job out of college which I had for almost a decade, so out of habit I still use two when typing in Word or sending work emails even though I'm long gone from there.

In all other situations I use one.

+1

I don't think there's any reason to do 2 spaces with cleaner fonts & printers, but I still tend to do that out of habit on formal or professional correspondence. Everyday life I'm more concerned about autocorrect changing words than grammar.

[Honolulu_Blue]

When you write legal briefs and memos it's always 2 spaces. At least the places I've worked.

[Marc Vaughan]

One space - any other answer is a travesty against proper English ... plus I'm too lazy to do two spaces

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Marc Vaughan

One space - any other answer is a travesty against proper English ... plus I'm too lazy to do two spaces

It took me a solid 6 months to remember to do it at that job I was talking about. Until it all finally clicked, I would do a search and replace of ". " for ". " in all my work products.

[CrescentMoonie]

Two spaces was the standard entirely for reading printed work. Now that most reading is screen based, one is the only acceptable answer.

[EagleFan]

Two, only barbarians would use one.

[QuikSand]

I grew up a two space guy, but am persuaded that the correct answer now is one. It's difficult.

My proofreader/editor at work is a one-space stickler, and I don't want to leave massive work for her. But, she has confessed to using search/replace on my work often.

[JPhillips]

Originally Posted by QuikSand

I grew up a two space guy, but am persuaded that the correct answer now is one. It's difficult.

This.

MLA and Chicago both say one space. I still default to two in a lot of what I write, but if I want to publish it's always one space.

[Dutch]

I seem to recall an early teacher explaining the purpose of two spaces was to differentiate the period spacing from the comma spacing. That made logical enough sense. And when using a type-writer (back in the cave man days) there was something weirdly satisfying (in hind-sight, I suppose, since I've never considered this before) about hitting the period and space bar twice to close one thought and begin a new one.

[digamma]

I still cling to the hopes and dreams of a two space world.

[Maple Leafs]

Two spaces, assuming you're doing your writing on a rusty old typewriter in 1940.

For the rest off us, one space.

[cuervo72]

Used to be two space, but now everything I write is online where all whitespace is collapsed so it really doesn't matter. Though I probably add two spaces when typing and not thinking about it just from habit.

[Logan]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Two spaces, assuming you're doing your writing on a rusty old typewriter in 1940.

For the rest off us, one space.

Butthole.

[Dutch]

[stevew]

At this point it's too hard to learn how to type again. So I'm going to just stick with 2 spaces.

[ColtCrazy]

I use one since I use one for spacing between words. Two throws off the aesthetics of the whole paper. Or maybe it's my OCD.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Just asked my college student what they're told/taught.

He says still two.

[JPhillips]

APA style still says two.

[Shkspr]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

Two spaces, assuming you're doing your writing on a rusty old typewriter in 1940.

For the rest off us, one space.

What your generation lacks in spaces after a period, they apparently make up for with use of the letter "f" in prepositions.

[Suicane75]

Most places I go make me feel old because I don't know what a Jeezy is, or what Fam means, or who the hell Blac China is. Here I feel old because people debate the number of proper spaces after a period.

[Shkspr]

What if I were to type one space after a period...but type that space in a font twice the width of the font used by the rest of the paragraph?

[RainMaker]

Originally Posted by wustin

I was taught in elementary school to do two spaces. Then I got to college and just did one.

Same here. Was there some year we all decided to go to one space or were we just in weird elementary schools?

[CrescentMoonie]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

APA style still says two.

Two is recommended for drafts, but one is recommended for published works. My dissertation articles are all going to require one space.

[JPhillips]

Interesting. The OWL website said two.

[CrescentMoonie]

Originally Posted by RainMaker

Same here. Was there some year we all decided to go to one space or were we just in weird elementary schools?

Two spaces was an old typewriter convention based on monospace type. Every character took up the same amount of space, so the extra space was there to help signal the reader that there was a break in the text.

[LastWhiteSoxFanStanding]

[Fonzie]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Interesting. The OWL website said two.

And they're right, as that's what the 6th edition of the APA style manual recommends. But, the APA manual's 5th edition had recommended one space after the period (which was, itself, a change from two). Many publications that made the switch to one space are sticking with it, though.

[JonInMiddleGA]

Yeah, the Bloom County cartoon nails it perfectly


On a side note, something else from the kid during this conversation today, re: APA & such.

He was shocked to discover that he's made it roughly a month into school without once having a single style manual of any kind referenced in any manner at all. "After being beaten up over them for several years of high school, I've gotten here and ... nobody seems to care, at all"

I suspect that's true with a big part of life.

[CrescentMoonie]

Originally Posted by JPhillips

Interesting. The OWL website said two.

It says that in the updates for APA 6 section, but the full manual continues with the part about 1 for publication.

EDIT: That's not true. The manual specifies two spaces as aiding readers of draft manuscripts but makes no mention at all about the actual publication. It's always surprising and somewhat amusing to me that there's so much detail, on so many points, in the APA manual then something glaring like that isn't addressed at all.

[CrescentMoonie]

Originally Posted by JonInMiddleGA

Yeah, the Bloom County cartoon nails it perfectly


On a side note, something else from the kid during this conversation today, re: APA & such.

He was shocked to discover that he's made it roughly a month into school without once having a single style manual of any kind referenced in any manner at all. "After being beaten up over them for several years of high school, I've gotten here and ... nobody seems to care, at all"

I suspect that's true with a big part of life.

Yep, it's almost nonexistent in undergrad, then comes back in full vengeance at the graduate levels.

[Edward64]

Always learn to do 2 spaces.

[JPhillips]

Not related to the spacing issue, but interesting to me. I've always written in MLA for anything I've published on theatre, but yesterday I learned that most writing about design uses Chicago.

[Comey]

Originally Posted by flere-imsaho

Where do you work, nilodor? 1991?

This is my new favorite joke.