<p>I thought that we old people put in two spaces after periods so we can store our dentures someplace. </p>
<p>My S bought an electric typewriter at a garage sale for $3, just to explore it. He showed me, with amazement, how the keys came up to deposit print upon the page. The next unbelievable feature he showed me was the return-sweep lever. He had never experienced the mechanical origins of the keyboard. I recognized the electric typewriter model from my own freshman year. </p>
<p>I told him about “white-out” and he almost wept for me; or maybe it was hysterical laughter, not sure.</p>
<p>LOL – I write and edit judicial opinions for a living. And dinosaurs that we are, we still use the double space between sentences. Guess that shouldn’t surprise me . . . .</p>
<p>I only found out a year ago that some people put two spaces after a period and I am now a college senior. I thought it was strange to say the least.</p>
<p>I’ve always put two spaces after my periods. When I was taught typing, that’s how I was taught. I wasn’t even aware that one space was the standard now, whoops. </p>
<p>I don’t care about teachers’ opinions or desktop publishers or even the Word grammar checker, but since both the AP and Chicago Manual of Style have caved in, I suppose I need to stop double-spacing after periods. I hate change, and I genuinely think the double-space looks better.</p>
<p>When my kids were younger, I used to tell them they were doing wrong because they weren’t double spacing after periods. They would look at me as if I were crazy. I didn’t know the rules had changed until I read this thread.</p>
<p>It does indeed seems that two spaces after punctuation marks you as an older person. I was surprised by this change and also by the change from two lines through a dollar sign to the now standard one line ($). When did that happen? I love the way no one stops and asks me before they decide to go and change things!</p>
<p>I agree with WashDad. I think the double space looks better, even with proportional-width fonts, and has the advantage of making it obvious that the separation between sentences is more important than that between elements within a sentence. However, nobody asked my opinion before making the change.</p>
<p>I use one, I never heard of two. Maybe I vaguely have. I’ve always used one though. </p>
<p>I think it looks kind of funny with shorter sentences, like three or four words, if there is two spaces between them. But then again I guess most adults don’t type multiple three or four word sentences.</p>
I think I can speak for a few of us here when I say that your post made our day! Such relief to know that our double spacing doesn’t necessarily age us! :)</p>
<p>I am in utter disbelief that the age of two spaces after a period is gone. I will never be able to conform to the new rule. I’ve become my parent (or maybe grandparent) as I am obviously way too set in my ways. </p>
<p>Oh, and I taught my own kids and all of my students that you must always space twice after a period. </p>
<p>Well, I guess I learned something new here today: being second is obsolete! I will sadly mourn the loss of the second space at the end of a sentence, along with the second line in the dollar sign. Must be something about the “me first” generation, always “looking out for #1”…sigh</p>
<p>Now we can add this to the “remember when…” list.</p>
<p>You don’t have to. Type the way you always did, and then when the document is finished, ask MS Word to replace all two-space sequences with one space. One click and you’re modern.</p>
<p>Microsoft Word, under Tools, Options, Spelling and Grammar, Settings lets you set your preference at one or two spaces after a period and then it will check the paper when you do the spelling and grammar check. Our editor at work about ten years ago told us we had to use one space if we right justified our work, but could optionally use two if we did not. I’m not sure if the optionality has changed since I have converted to using one space routinely, but I think our children are still being taught to use two spaces by their teachers. Perhaps it depends on the age of the teacher.</p>
<p>Marian: The problem is that I don’t want to be modern. I like the look of the two spaces. </p>
<p>I am fairly sure that my kids typed all of their college essays with two spaces. I guess I could say that it certainly didn’t matter because they did pretty well in admisssions. </p>
<p>Then again … maybe the U Penn regional adcom was a one space sort of guy/gal… ? </p>
<p>i grew up with two spaces after a period. if anyone wants to lengthen a paper, maybe the student can put in more thought to add…?</p>
<p>(ok, yes, i know i am breaking convention rules by typing in all lowercase… i have become lazy when typing on the internet for casual communication… these old old fingers are tired… please excuse…)</p>
Such relief to know that our double spacing doesn’t necessarily age us! :)</p>