Single Space or Double Space
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I did research on this once, and learned the reason some people double-space, which is typically older people and almost never people my age, is because that was taught during the typewriter days. After the digital age became prevalent, single-spacing became standard but many people still think back to pre-computer composing. Source is a Wikipedia article I don't feel like taking the time to link.
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Note: I researched that after an issue came up with the transcriptionists single-spacing and an older doctor, who was 50s or 60s, was upset it wasn't double-spaced. That's what made me look it up.
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@ajstringham not sure if single spacing is standard today or if people just haven't learned how to type. If you use a monospace font, double spacing is still expected. Typographers claim that with variable width fonts, proper spacing is no longer needed. But since not all fonts are variable, doesn't that mean that double spacing still is required? The space between words and between sentences are not supposed to be the same whether hand written, typed or digital.
Single spacing just seems sloppy, still.
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@ajstringham It was still being taught in the mid-1990s for sure.
Pretty sure it was being taught when I worked at a school in 2005.
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Kids today and their French spacing and Oxford commas.
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@scottalanmiller said:
Kids today and their French spacing and Oxford commas.
I've adopted the Oxford comma but only after kicking and screaming about it.
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@scottalanmiller said:
Single spacing just seems sloppy, still.
Double spacing just seems weird.
Apart from anything, consider the wasted time. You've written over 2.8 million words on your blog, right? Let's say an average of 10 words per sentence. That's 280k extra spaces you've typed. Let's say an average of 120 spaces per minute and that's almost 40 hours of your life that you've wasted. 40 hours hitting the space bar, for no reason at all.
Life's too short!
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@Carnival-Boy said:
@scottalanmiller said:
Single spacing just seems sloppy, still.
Double spacing just seems weird.
Apart from anything, consider the wasted time. You've written over 2.8 million words on your blog, right? Let's say an average of 10 words per sentence. That's 280k extra spaces you've typed. Let's say an average of 120 spaces per minute and that's almost 40 hours of your life that you've wasted. 40 hours hitting the space bar, for no reason at all.
Life's too short!
That's an excellent analysis.
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@Carnival-Boy the price of elegance and accuracy is never small
In reality it would take so much more time to untrain. It's purely automatic and effectively instantaneous. I learned to type at age five.
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@ajstringham said:
@scottalanmiller said:
Kids today and their French spacing and Oxford commas.
I've adopted the Oxford comma but only after kicking and screaming about it.
Why? Unless necessary, which it sometimes is, isn't it also considered sloppy?
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Or perhaps redundant is a better term.
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I was taught single space. I think older generations were taught double space.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@ajstringham said:
@scottalanmiller said:
Kids today and their French spacing and Oxford commas.
I've adopted the Oxford comma but only after kicking and screaming about it.
Why? Unless necessary, which it sometimes is, isn't it also considered sloppy?
It's not considered sloppy at all. The logic behind it makes sense. I fought it at first, but, if I want to be respected as a writer, I'll get criticized for not using it but won't if I do and someone considers it a little superfluous.
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@thecreativeone91 said:
I was taught single space. I think older generations were taught double space.
Exactly. @scottalanmiller is just old.
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Mrs nadnerB is a double spacer and I am a single spacer. She is not old
I have no idea what I was taught/shown during school as I didn't like the teacher and refused to type their way. Hence my hybrid home/point-n-prod method of typing.
I hope my objections to double spacing are not out of stubbornness...
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Single Spacer here
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@ajstringham said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@ajstringham said:
@scottalanmiller said:
Kids today and their French spacing and Oxford commas.
I've adopted the Oxford comma but only after kicking and screaming about it.
Why? Unless necessary, which it sometimes is, isn't it also considered sloppy?
It's not considered sloppy at all. The logic behind it makes sense. I fought it at first, but, if I want to be respected as a writer, I'll get criticized for not using it but won't if I do and someone considers it a little superfluous.
You get criticized more for using than for not using it. Oxford comma is to be used at proper times, it is widely considered sloppy to use it just anytime.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@ajstringham said:
@scottalanmiller said:
@ajstringham said:
@scottalanmiller said:
Kids today and their French spacing and Oxford commas.
I've adopted the Oxford comma but only after kicking and screaming about it.
Why? Unless necessary, which it sometimes is, isn't it also considered sloppy?
It's not considered sloppy at all. The logic behind it makes sense. I fought it at first, but, if I want to be respected as a writer, I'll get criticized for not using it but won't if I do and someone considers it a little superfluous.
You get criticized more for using than for not using it. Oxford comma is to be used at proper times, it is widely considered sloppy to use it just anytime.
Umm, would you care to attach a reference to that? That makes no sense.
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Scott, in regards to your Oxford comma point, I counter with this:
http://diply.com/trendyjoe/oxford-comma-why-everyone-should-use-it/47666
