Thursday, January 15, 2009

I Need a Little Space...

Bob and I got in an argument! I know! I can barely believe it myself. But don't you worry, it was nothing of a serious nature...at least intellectuals would tell you it was petty. I beg to differ, smarty pants!

Here's how the story goes:

I was online updating my resume for a number of reasons, and while Bob and I were proofreading it, he took my double space after a period and deleted it. Whoa, whoa, whoa! I had a minor freak out. What did he think he was doing? You ALWAYS leave two spaces after a period, don't you? According to Bob, you only leave one space after a period.

One! No Two! Dude, it's One! Nooooo, I totally remember being taught that the proper way is TWOO! ONE! TWO!

One? Two? One? Two? Ugh! Who is right?

Time to consult the all-knowing being of greatness: The Internet. Too bad that didn't help at all! Some places said one, others said two. But the main argument rested on these two points:

Two spaces were originally used for typewriters. The typewriters had mono spaced fonts, and you needed the two spaces for the eye to pick up a new sentence. Also, two spaces tends to be more pleasing to the eye. Nowadays, fonts are adjusted, and one space is sufficient. With publishing companies, space is money, and those extra spaces after a period need to go! Also, many computer programs will only put one space after a period no matter what you type.

So, alas, we came to no answer. I can't seem to stop typing without my trusty two-spaced break after a sentence, and Bob is stern that I'm wasting a precious space.

So what do you think? One space or two? Personally, I like to think that a little space never hurts.

9 comments:

Tyler + Jess said...

You two are hilarious! I too was taught that there are TWO spaces after a period.. but I think that might be too much waisted space unless your trying to write a 15 page paper and need all the help you can get!

UtesFan89 said...

2 spaces?
I really must've skipped paying attention for a year or something... I don't remember ever learning that.

Space-wasting. :(

Tiffany said...

I'm a two spacer myself. :)

Ashley said...

Hate to break it to you Cilla, but when typing on computers it recognizes the period and makes a larger single space. Therefore the second one superfluous. The new standard is one space. But tradition never was bad. People will persist in both.

Lil Lizzie said...

i always typed two also cilla!! no worries, we can go through this hard transition time together ;)

Anonymous said...

Gulp. I think I need to swallow my pride and admit that my two spaces are not needed. I just noticed that even though I typed two in this blog, it automatically changed it back to one. Sigh.

Though I am thoroughally enjoying this little conversation we have going here!

UtesFan89 said...

Whew... for a second there, I thought I was the only one not using 2 spaces.

I wonder if using 2 spaces would've increased my final for writing 2010 to the required 8 pages way back then... I might've gotten a better grade then.

Spacing works differently with HTML... if I remember correctly, you could put 100 spaces between 2 words, but if you're in the "edit HTML" (or whatever) mode, it'll only count it as 1 space.

Caitie Miller said...

If that's the worst fight you two have, consider yourselves a lucky couple! haha. The last fight spencer and I had was three years and three months ago, but it was a pretty big one.

Unknown said...

I still do two spaces, old habits die hard!