How many spaces after a period.

[thebrinkoftime]

This topic is interesting for me. It's like watching cannibals argue over what part of the human body to eat first; I know the meaning of the words they are using, but I just can't relate. My native language originally has no space between anything, whatsoever. Punctuation, letters, words, sentences. None. Originally paragraphs as well, but now we've relented to the demands of those strange funky space aliens known as English speakers and we have one itty bitty space at the top of the page (because you know we write our manuscripts from top to bottom, not left to right) for a new paragraph. But we refuse to be consistent with this at all. I think you could characterize the entire Japanese language as this giant attention whore that goes around punctuation conventions and shouts, "Look ma, no hands!"  

 

So whatever I've heard on this issue is always the same: as we say in in Japanese, Gou ni shitagae, or follow the rules of the people's hometowns that are you interacting with, where "hometown" can be anything from a country to a tradition to a family to a fanbase. I imagine at a typewriter enthusiast convention I would double space, and if I were sending something to an editor of a popular website who was losing his mind and threatened to kill himself if another one of their writers made an easily correctable mistake, I would very consciously use a single space. And of course, if I was writing in Japanese, I'll be like, "I'm so glad I don't have to worry about this stuff."

 

Oh no!   Now we need a thread on splitting infinitives!

 

Splitting infinitives is like splitting twins at birth. It's a nasty idea in theory, but it leads to so many juicy results, we can't help but nod our heads sometimes and relent, "Yes, it was better this way."

 

hair spaces, 

 

The final frontier, these are the voyages of the starship Pantene Pro-V, to explore new scalps, to seek out bald patterns and gel residue, to boldly repair hair follicles where no shampoo has done so before. Daaaaah-da-da-da, da-da-dahhhh, do-do-do-do-do, duh nuh, nuh nuh nuuuh!

[Aditus]

Splitting infinitives is like splitting twins at birth. It's a nasty idea in theory, but it leads to so many juicy results, we can't help but nod our heads sometimes and relent, "Yes, it was better this way."

 

 

 

So true. Language is a living, breathing thing, which needs rules to tame it. Nevetheless these rules can be broken, if it is used occasionally and carefully.

[comicfan]

All right so I was changing the spacing, sue me. However, I still use the Oxford comma.

[Andy78]

**gets out his "Two Spaces after a Period" stick and continues to flog the dead horse with it**

[scotty94]

my mum is a nightmare for double spaces, I tell her that it has changed now but she continues to double space.

Edited August 16, 2013 by scotty94

[The Pecman]

**gets out his "Two Spaces after a Period" stick and continues to flog the dead horse with it**

 

I'll give you one:

 

[Former Member]

**gets out his "Two Spaces after a Period" stick and continues to flog the dead horse with it**

 

Glad I'm not the only one XD

[Uplifted Spirit]

I prefer two spaces after a period.  I had someone tell me it's not correct anymore, but I find it easier to read at least when you read something like this.  I've self-published two books and I only use one space.  Part of the reason for that is that books are right justified and it creates odd spacing anyway.

 

Uplifted Spirit