I had read that, in this post-typewriter era, one is no longer to place two spaces after periods, semicolons, and colons. This has something to do with the right-hand justification done automatically by word-processing programs; apparently, this makes double-spacing unnecessary, although I’ve never understood why. At a glance, it’s obvious to all but the most text-messaging-addled amongst us that a single space after sentences does not allow time for reflection, or even room to breathe.
Nonetheless, I’ve joined the ranks of the single-spacers. Recently, a magazine asked me to expand a previously written piece, and since their style sheet requires submissions be single-spaced, I spent an inordinate amount of time peering intently at my computer screen looking for the superfluous space in my essay. (Believe me, no matter how cleverly you set the parameters, no global change will convert every double-space into a single.) Since I don’t wish to repeat that experience, I’ve turned my back on the training drilled into me in my high school typing class and (almost successfully) converted myself into a single-spacer.
I can’t help feel, though, that I have given up some inessential but elegant adornment, something which kept us at a remove from the barbarians. Paper napkins may do the job just as well as cloth, but unless one is at a picnic, why? What is gained, and what is lost, by this economy?
I write this, dear reader, not because I expect you to care about the double-space, but so you might understand how a curmudgeon is made. Again and again, they take away from us some thing, some rule, trivial in itself but which gave order to our chaotic lives. This is why we curmudgeons end up sitting in our corners, muttering to ourselves except for the moments when we arise, grasp you by the lapels, and tell you about the way things used to be.
Some sympathy, and just a bit of indulgence, please.
1 comment:
I am happy to report that the double space is still alive and well in remote sectors of society. I recently had my typing speed tested as a requirement for a job application. The test administrator explained that the test format expected the typist to include a double space after each period. Thankfully, I was accustomed to this practice, having learned typing in the dark ages of the early 1970's. The younger typists taking the test were struggling to remember this rule. Is feeling smug a sin? If so, I must repent.
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