Gotta keep that right thumb under control!
I was just smacked in the face with how old I am. The other day I stumbled on this article on slate.com, where the writer railed against people who continue to type two spaces between paragraphs. I am one of those people the author is railing against: I've always used two spaces. I was a bit flummoxed. I never realized I was doing anything wrong. So I typed "two spaces new sentence" into Google and found page after page of typographers and grammarians who are very unhappy with my habit and are quick to point out that the world is not using typewriters anymore.
Now I'm in crisis. I desperately want grammarians and typographers to like me. But everything I've ever written has had two spaces between sentences. Seminar papers, syllabi, articles, status updates, blog posts, my M.A. thesis, and the first 280 pages of my dissertation all have two spaces between sentences. Dear God, the sheer number of typographical sins I've committed is overwhelming!
So this post is my first attempt to write something with only one space between sentences. And it feels really freakin' awkward. My thumb desperately wants to do the two beats after the period. It looks goofy too. Maybe it'll look better after I post this.
Next decision: what to do about the dissertation. I could start using one space between sentences where I am, in the middle of chapter 6. Or I could go back through the whole thing and remove a space between thousands of sentences. Or I could carry on with two spaces until the end. I just don't know what to do. Damn you, typographers!
Now I'm in crisis. I desperately want grammarians and typographers to like me. But everything I've ever written has had two spaces between sentences. Seminar papers, syllabi, articles, status updates, blog posts, my M.A. thesis, and the first 280 pages of my dissertation all have two spaces between sentences. Dear God, the sheer number of typographical sins I've committed is overwhelming!
So this post is my first attempt to write something with only one space between sentences. And it feels really freakin' awkward. My thumb desperately wants to do the two beats after the period. It looks goofy too. Maybe it'll look better after I post this.
Next decision: what to do about the dissertation. I could start using one space between sentences where I am, in the middle of chapter 6. Or I could go back through the whole thing and remove a space between thousands of sentences. Or I could carry on with two spaces until the end. I just don't know what to do. Damn you, typographers!