Do you use two spaces after a period?

[Anonymous]

Can I just throw out there that anyone who uses Comic Sans in any professional setting is doing major damage to their career. Say no to Comic Sans!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Can I just throw out there that anyone who uses Comic Sans in any professional setting is doing major damage to their career. Say no to Comic Sans!

http://www.sadanduseless.com/image.php?n=880

[Anonymous]

NO NO NO NO! It's two spaces, I tell you! That's what I learned a zillion years ago and that's how it should be done and I'm never never never going to change!!!! [Insert icon for holding breath till turning blue here.]

[Anonymous]

May I say that this is the most informative and funny thread I've read on DCUM in a long time. Thanks, guys!

From an inveterate two-spacer who is actually quite knowledgeable about software. In fact I'm a big fan of Twitter where I've learned that no spaces after a period is the best move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can I just throw out there that anyone who uses Comic Sans in any professional setting is doing major damage to their career. Say no to Comic Sans!

http://www.sadanduseless.com/image.php?n=880

Love it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm an editor and writer. Two spaces after a period is wrong if you are using a proportional font (like Times New Roman or Helvetica). The font builds in enough space automatically.

Yes, it is a pain to re-teach yourself, but you should do it. Using two spaces after a period telegraphs (!) that you are old and learned to type on a typewriter. It puts you in the camp of people who don't understand Track Changes and manually apply red color and the "strike-out" style to their text to show a deletion (Yes, there really are lots of these people out there, and I work with some of them, and they are all die-hard double spacers).

Your statement telegraphs (!) that you are a nerd. It puts you in the camp of people who don't understand how to interact with other people.

[Anonymous]

Ah, the plight of the over educated-they can tell you specifically how a microwave works, describe a black hole in its' entirety but cannot tie lace shoes, always forget to bring an umbrella on a rainy day, get mugged regularly on the subway (they were busy reading a book by Francis Wheen) and are as literal as a block of stone. Like I said, life of the party.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an editor and writer. Two spaces after a period is wrong if you are using a proportional font (like Times New Roman or Helvetica). The font builds in enough space automatically.

Yes, it is a pain to re-teach yourself, but you should do it. Using two spaces after a period telegraphs (!) that you are old and learned to type on a typewriter. It puts you in the camp of people who don't understand Track Changes and manually apply red color and the "strike-out" style to their text to show a deletion (Yes, there really are lots of these people out there, and I work with some of them, and they are all die-hard double spacers).

Your statement telegraphs (!) that you are a nerd. It puts you in the camp of people who don't understand how to interact with other people.

I am not the PP you are ridiculing, but why do you say that? It sounds like the PP is astute. (FYI, I have worked for older men who still used white out, and also had little bottles of airliner liquor in their desk drawers. Loved them but also pretty sure they were not using single spaces after a period.)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ah, the plight of the over educated-they can tell you specifically how a microwave works, describe a black hole in its' entirety but cannot tie lace shoes, always forget to bring an umbrella on a rainy day, get mugged regularly on the subway (they were busy reading a book by Francis Wheen) and are as literal as a block of stone. Like I said, life of the party.

Takes all kinds to make the world go round. If it weren't for the people you describe, then there would be no microwaves for you to heat up the finger foods for your smashing parties. So there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an editor and writer. Two spaces after a period is wrong if you are using a proportional font (like Times New Roman or Helvetica). The font builds in enough space automatically.

Yes, it is a pain to re-teach yourself, but you should do it. Using two spaces after a period telegraphs (!) that you are old and learned to type on a typewriter. It puts you in the camp of people who don't understand Track Changes and manually apply red color and the "strike-out" style to their text to show a deletion (Yes, there really are lots of these people out there, and I work with some of them, and they are all die-hard double spacers).

Your statement telegraphs (!) that you are a nerd. It puts you in the camp of people who don't understand how to interact with other people.

I am not the PP you are ridiculing, but why do you say that? It sounds like the PP is astute. (FYI, I have worked for older men who still used white out, and also had little bottles of airliner liquor in their desk drawers. Loved them but also pretty sure they were not using single spaces after a period.)

Whaaaa??? Are you saying little bottles of liquor are no more??? What do they put them in now?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ah, the plight of the over educated-they can tell you specifically how a microwave works, describe a black hole in its' entirety but cannot tie lace shoes, always forget to bring an umbrella on a rainy day, get mugged regularly on the subway (they were busy reading a book by Francis Wheen) and are as literal as a block of stone. Like I said, life of the party.

Takes all kinds to make the world go round. If it weren't for the people you describe, then there would be no microwaves for you to heat up the finger foods for your smashing parties. So there.

You've got me there. I can't imagine life without pigs in a blanket. Man cannot live by bruschetta alone. And I'm sure I've mispelled that but I do get invited to lots of parties and I don't own one pair of loafers.

[Anonymous]

Folks, get with the program. Chicago, AP say ONE.

http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/spaces-period-end-of-sentence.aspx
FROM THE ABOVE LINK:
Grammar Girl here.
This week I have two topics for you: The number of spaces after a period at the end of a sentence, and whether you should use "who" or "that" to refer to people (and pets).
Now here's our first listener question.
<His friends believe it is antiquated to use two spaces after a period at the end of a sentence.>
Yes, the caller is correct and he's also right that a lot of people haven't heard about the change.
Two Spaces After a Period--The Old Way
Here's the deal: Most typewriter fonts are what are called monospaced fonts. That means every character takes up the same amount of space. An "i" takes up as much space as an "m," for example. When using a monospaced font, where everything is the same width, it makes sense to type two spaces after a period at the end of a sentence to create a visual break. For that reason, people who learned to type on a typewriter were taught to put two spaces after a period at the end of a sentence.
One Space After a Period--The New Way
But when you're typing on a computer, most fonts are proportional fonts, which means that characters are different widths. An "i" is more narrow than an "m," for example, and putting extra space between sentences doesn't do anything to improve readability.
Notice how in this example, the "i's" and "t" take up much less space in the proportional font than they do in the monospaced font.

Although how many spaces you use is ultimately a style choice, using one space is by far the most widely accepted and logical style. The Chicago Manual of Style (1), the AP Stylebook (2), and the Modern Language Association (3) all recommend using one space after a period at the end of a sentence. Furthermore, page designers have written in begging me to encourage people to use one space because if you send them a document with two spaces after the periods, they have to go in and take all the extra spaces out.
I know it's a hard habit to break if you were trained to use two spaces, but if you can, give one space a try.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Ah, the plight of the over educated-they can tell you specifically how a microwave works, describe a black hole in its' entirety but cannot tie lace shoes, always forget to bring an umbrella on a rainy day, get mugged regularly on the subway (they were busy reading a book by Francis Wheen) and are as literal as a block of stone. Like I said, life of the party.

Takes all kinds to make the world go round. If it weren't for the people you describe, then there would be no microwaves for you to heat up the finger foods for your smashing parties. So there.

You've got me there. I can't imagine life without pigs in a blanket. Man cannot live by bruschetta alone. And I'm sure I've mispelled that but I do get invited to lots of parties and I don't own one pair of loafers.

I give up. How many do you own?

[Anonymous]

Wait here, I gotta go look. .

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm an editor and writer. Two spaces after a period is wrong if you are using a proportional font (like Times New Roman or Helvetica). The font builds in enough space automatically.

Yes, it is a pain to re-teach yourself, but you should do it. Using two spaces after a period telegraphs (!) that you are old and learned to type on a typewriter. It puts you in the camp of people who don't understand Track Changes and manually apply red color and the "strike-out" style to their text to show a deletion (Yes, there really are lots of these people out there, and I work with some of them, and they are all die-hard double spacers).

Your statement telegraphs (!) that you are a nerd. It puts you in the camp of people who don't understand how to interact with other people.

I am not the PP you are ridiculing, but why do you say that? It sounds like the PP is astute. (FYI, I have worked for older men who still used white out, and also had little bottles of airliner liquor in their desk drawers. Loved them but also pretty sure they were not using single spaces after a period.)

Don Draper? Roger Sterling? Those sexy "older men" can put two spaces or ten spaces after a period and I will not care. I will make myself a White Out and airline liquor cocktail and bend to their every anachronism or stylistic whim.