Amid news that Starbucks is closing 600 stores and Americans are using less gasoline comes word of another reduction that will affect your everyday life:
Punctuation.
Or, more accurately, the space after punctuation.
It turns out that the holy writ of period usage -- two spaces after a period at the end of a sentence -- is no longer the standard. The spacing required for a clear demarcation between sentences typed in the monotype fonts of yesteryear has been obviated by computers and their ability to manipulate proportional fonts. Both the MLA style manual and the Chicago Manual of Style now allow for single spacing after a sentence-ending period.
To think of all the time I have wasted over the years making that extra hit on the space bar...
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3 comments:
I'm a two-space kinda guy. And will never change. But this program won't let it happen!
I enthusiastically converted to spacing once after periods years ago when the American Psychological Association (APA) Style Guide changed its rule on the matter. Trust me, the mile-wide gap of two spaces quickly becomes unsightly once you cut down to one space. Stripping away the thumb's second space bar hit is a challenge, though. It doesn't give it up easily.
Ironically, I now use LaTeX to compose and format my APA-style manuscripts and it still uses two spaces after periods. I'm thinking of perusing the code to change it.
UPDATE: The Government says no to shutting down the stores. My guess is because they were going to close down Nancy Pelosi's store in her quest to "save the world"
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