I don’t know if I can shake the habit. I’m in mind-jarring, hand twitching, don’t put two spaces after a period anymore rehab.
This struggle goes on with every new line I type on these springy, black keys with the white letters I’ve known so well for the past fifteen years.
There, did you see? Every time I reach the end of a sentence it happens, after each period I face that vein-tapping muscle memory pulsating from my right thumb. That’s the digit that punches the space bar rhythmically after each dot of punctuation.
I owe this struggle to WordPress, our blogging overlords who recently Freshly Pressed a marvelous piece called How Many Spaces Should You Put After A Period? by Dr. J over at The Western Tradition.
The good doctor set me straight as the home row on this keyboard. One space after periods. Got it.
But then I come to the end of the next sentence and can’t resist that second space. ”Take me!” screams the beast, a white void no longer acceptable, a wasted rule that should never have been. But I can’t resist! Now each sentence ends with a quick thump-thump of the right thumb followed by an immediate thwack as my right ring finger–the methadone I need to combat this heroin of double-spacing–smacks the backspace button to set fragile paragraphs aright. Thump-thump-thwack. That’s the sound of my disease.
The pull of the post-period double tap remains so strong that I’m beginning to lose heart. (There it goes again). The animalistic part of me rationalizes because I am an attic.
“What are you worried about?” purs the beast. “You can put a second space after punctuation. No problem. That Dr. J is just plain old wrong.”
My nerves begin to calm. My pounding heart slows. I want to believe the beast’s lie. But how can I be sure?
I know copyeditors. Just ask them. The truth frightens. Then I remember that I’ve had articles appear in print, pieces that were worked over by multiple editors.
I find the link to my Houdini piece. I point and click, an apprehensive click, the polar opposite of that anxious thumb tap. I scan the text below Houdini’s portrait but unlike the masterful showman I can not escape the haunting truth.
The editors have indeed left only one space after each period.
Thump-thump-thwack.
Now I look at everything I’ve ever written and cringe. A decade and a half is enough time to craft thousands of pages filled with tens of thousands of words. Do you know how many punctuation marks that is? I don’t because I’m a writer and don’t believe in math. I’m a matheist. Just think of all of those periods shivering in the shadow of that ill-conceived second space. How embarrassing! It’s like walking out of a three-hour lecture only to realize your zipper was down the entire time.
Gonna take a while to clean all this up.
No, it’s worse than that. Look at all those extra spaces scattered across my past. The road I’ve trodden as a writer is as bleak as a Cormac McCarthy post-apocalyptic novel, a desolate landscape of naked periods and lonely question marks. Can this world ever be rebuilt? Editing devolves into torture.
Oh, the betrayal of the system! I followed your rules teacher. I copied your example dear mother. Yet we were all deceived by the devils of western civilization.
And now? Now, I’m like an old dog but forget the part about having to learn a new trick. This old mutt has to unlearn wagging my tail at dinner. Impossible?
I can beat this disease but not by myself. We can do it together, you and me. Let’s kick the habit and reclaim wasted space. We must unite and fight the good fight! Listen to the sound of our hearts beating as one. Do you hear it? That soft echo follows us through every word, sentence, and punctuation mark. Yes, I hear the collective pounding of our hearts over the groans of the grammar gods. Thump-thump-thwack.
____________________________________________________________
Okay, a bit dramatic, but does anyone out there feel me? Find me on Twitter @eduClaytion.
WHAT!?!? One space?!? I don’t think I can adhere to this rule. In fact, I will make a stand for all two-spacers out there and run a secret organization for all of us who insist on leaving just a bit more white space than necessary. Two Spaces 4 Life!
I know AB. The desire to raise fists and stand is strong, but apparently we should never have been double-spacing. It all has to do with typewriters back in the day. Sure enough, everything I look at now is single space. Ugh.
I’m with you AB! I say screw it. Double spacers are now the cool ones because we are different
????
I believe that you mean one space after periods?
FTA:
The good doctor set me straight as the home row on this keyboard. One sentence after periods. Got it.
Nice catch! I got a message on Facebook about that too. Everybody piles on the guy who’s down and out as a post-punctuation spacin failure!
I noticed it too, but was too nice to mention it…
Ouch! Sure, leave me out there to suffer in silence
My friend, AA, wrote about this very problem recently:
http://bighappynothing.wordpress.com/2011/01/19/im-spacey-no-more/
I am a (stubborn) confirmed 2-spacer!
Wendy
That’s great Wendy. I already read that piece. Almost exactly where I’m coming from! Except you two seem to be resisting the change. I’m going to self-correct even if I shiver and sweat for the next few months.
Yes, I let go of the extra space a year or so ago. At first, I used the “Control F” (find and replace) command: yes, you can replace all your double spaces in one fell swoop.
Just over a week ago, there was a good piece on this very thing on CBC Radio (Canada’s NPR) – on a fantastic current events show called Q. Here’s the link if you’re interested: http://www.cbc.ca/q/blog/2011/01/20/qs-great-spaces-debate/
Great tips. I knew there was a way to auto fix these spaces. You’re the first to lead me. You’re like a comical grammar sherpa. I bet no one’s ever called you that before. Thanks for the link.
I missed your reply. I love Comical Grammar Sherpa. Perhaps I should put this under my photo on the Wordbitches blog.
Oh, yes, I do feel you. My colloborator uses one space; I use two. She uses single quotes; I use double. I am now completely unable to maintain regular punctuation. I know it’s arbitrary, I know it saves space…but like you say, old habits die hard.
All I see in every publication now is single spaces. I’ve never heard about it from an editor, but then again I haven’t been that prolific. On the Freshly Pressed post by Dr. J over 200 people commented! I found the conversation in that bunch interesting. The people in the industry said single all the way. By the way, that last phrase needs to become a Christmastime Rom Com.
I feel you man. Two spaces were drilled into me at school. Hell, it just feels wrong not to use two spaces or type out full words in text messages. Do what you like.
I know. Part of me wants to write the quickest text messages possible. Then I have the grammar angel over my other shoulder yelling at me.
Yes, I do. I have been trying to convert to one space for a couple of weeks now and it is nearly impossible. I feel betrayed by my teachers and by the system itself. Terrible.
Teachers indeed! But I became one and have told multiple students that they needed that extra space. Oh, the dangerous path I’ve led impressionable minds down.
I believe you could start the Society for the Preservation of Two Spaces After a Period (SPT SAP – see, I’ve put two spaces in the Acronym, too). I don’t see why the use of two spaces should become extinct. You could start by getting the Two Spaces put on the endangered species list… (How many spaces do I put after an ellipsis? That would be a question for your Society to think about!)
It seems to me, that in a world where so many people don’t even bother to try to spell, the number of spaces after a period just isn’t a big deal…
That’s a great point at the end Margie. I don’t know if I am able to lead this brave new society though. What if I get blacklisted by the editors and publishers of the world? And I also hate those ellipsis technicalities although I believe now that you put one space on each side. No clue what to do when the ellipsis follows a period cause I’ve seen too many opinions and can’t stomach anymore Strunk & White.
The world looks different after you take the red pill. Best wishes on your future one-space writing!
The red pill indeed. You are now to be known as the doctor of devastation, the very person who drove me to rehab. Thump-thump-thwack. Thanks for stopping by.
I submitted a couple of pieces to an online mag recently, and it says in the submission guidelines that any document with two spaces after periods “will be printed, shredded, then burned,” or something like that.
I actually had a professor at a junior college in the early 90′s who told us that we should only use one space after periods, so I went with it.
Good luck with the rehab. Is Dr. Drew there?
You found a professor ahead of his time to save you this pain. I shake most nights, sweating out all those extra spaces. On a related note, I’m glad you’re submitting! Keep at it. You’re one of the few people I guarantee will be successful if you submit enough.
I seriously thought you were joking…I kept waiting for the punch line. I type all day long at work-I will never ever be able to give up double spacing.
Then, just as I was about to throw myself off a cliff, I read Ironic Mom’s “Control F” tip! Could such a function be possible?! A last minute, saved by the bell, don’t make that leap miracle!! Thank you, thank you…all will be well.
Ha! The punch line never came. I speak the stunning truth! I’m so glad you didn’t throw yourself off a cliff! I know the feeling. Leave it to my favorite Canadian mom to save the day. I am gonna use her tip too.
[tear]
I thought I was your “favourite Canadian mom”! LOL.
Wendy
haha, I guess I better be careful with all my Canadian friends! You have certainly shot to the top of the list Wendy
Like I said yesterday we might need to start two space anonymous. I am trying real hard not to do two spaces but I just can’t..it’s automatic. And if you look real hard at any of my posts since reading Dr. J’s post I try to do one space when I concentrate on it and then get to typing and there are the two spaces again. my posts now look confused and I look a bit retarded. BUT here’s what I find funny. I have an iphone and when typing on the iphone you have to space twice to get the automatic period. hmmm….
I am in a constant rhythm now of one space only. I’m recovering from this lifetime habit. I hope I haven’t shortened my lifespan though. I don’t think I’ll ever go back and change my posts, but maybe I can fix up select manuscripts if that autofix feature works.
LMAO! I know exactly what you mean. I actually grieved the loss of my second space. I found out by correcting someone half my age when I was reading her ms. She responded by correcting me with tons of references. When did this even happen? No. Don’t tell me. I can’t bear the details. There was just something so satisfying about that second space. It was like a pat on the back every time I finished a sentence. As you can see, I’m using it now, here, just between you and me, because I know you won’t judge me. I feel safe with you and my secret love of my second space. Please don’t tell my editor I backslid into this hedonistic pleasure. It was only for a little while, after all. Thanks so much for your post. I don’t feel so alone now.
You grieved. I never thought of the mourning aspect of this devastating loss. We were led astray! I won’t tell anyone about how you fell off the grammar wagon. It might be wrong but just feels good. Maybe I can convince myself that every rejection letter I’ve ever received is just because I had too many spaces. Yeah, that’s it!
Omg! The computer changed my spacing in my comment.
I have lived too long.
We will all get through this together.
You know I feel your pain, educlaytion! The sound of the thump-thump-thwack is like the tell-tale heart for me. Trying to break the habit, after the extra thump, I cry, “Out, out, damn space!” at the end of every sentence. The whole thing is really giving me a headache. Be strong! (And thanks so much for stopping by my blog!)
We share the pain indeed. Funny you mention the tell-tall heart as I was feeling a bit of Poe come over me as I wrote. Of course, I also had a little Hunter Thompson in there too methinks. Thanks for stopping by!
Hunter Thompson. This reminds me that my husband and I just watched “Lenny” with Dustin Hoffman. Both tragic.
I just read an article about this and was shocked! I have to relearn how to type, to write. It’s become a major issue because now I’m thinking too much when I type. And thinking too much never works well for me. I had a discussion (on Facebook, of course) with friends and everyone was very passionately on the one-space or two-space side of the fence. I’m trying to reform myself.
What else have I been doing wrong?
Amy
We had a healthy FB discussion as well. I will report that after 2 weeks of rehab I am beginning to win. We can beat this addiction!
Am I the only one who already switched over to 1 space? I think I switched over when I was an editor, and I had to do tons of search and replaces: 2 spaces to 1 space.
Suuuuure, rub it in smarty pants. Look at Thoughts Appear everyone! She’s prepared for a zombie apocalypse AND has ninja grammar skills. I could’ve used you years ago
Not often do I get to say I’m ahead of the game. Give it to me just this once. =)
You got it. Take it and run. I’ve already sent enough people into despair who were behind like me.
I wonder how long my high school research papers would actually have been without that second space. (And the ten.point.five-point Courier New, but that’s neither here nor there.)
I never thought about that! Good thing I got through college and grad school with all those extra spaces saving me time. My students now will even try to fit 3 spaces in there. No way!
But… but.. but…
The double space was drilled into us. It was wrong to NOT double space. The challenge of eliminating such an ingrained habit (thump thump thwack indeed) – threaded so deep we don’t even think about it – is like trying to type on a “kids” keyboard where the letters are in alphabetical order and not “typing” order: your fingers and brain don’t care, they go where they are trained to go.
Perhaps if we had Inception of this single-space-post-period concept we might have a chance.
Otherwise I foresee a lot of thwacking in my future.
This post is proof. I’m talking about the rule, and yet each time I still double spaced.
This is gonna be a long journey….
Great idea about Inception. Maybe we can have Leo fix our bad grammar brains. The thwack is for real, but you can do it. I am getting better every day. *twitches and sweats with thumb poised over space bar*
I used to work in journalism. Now, I work in media releations. The first thing I do when anyone sends me copy is search-and-replace all of the period-space-spaces with period-spaces. Double spacing is something we did on typewriters, but you just don’t need that extra space.
P.S. I really liked the Houdini piece!
Thanks for reading the Houdini piece Todd! I really appreciate that. You are another one of those who knew about that double space. I can’t believe I never heard that!
That post changed my life, Clay. Changed my life.I feel so wrong (and wronged).
I’m sorry to have wronged you my friend. I felt the same sting of betrayal myself. We were fed lies! On a positive note, I hadn’t changed anybody’s life yet today, so I can now check that off my to do list.
Gotta love the folks at MLA. It’s now technically MOST correct to have only a single space after a period or any other end punctuation. This is all their doing.
Clay, I love this piece. Can I post it on my blog, like you did for Kelly? In all it’s fabulousness, not just as a link?
But of course! I’d be honored your tremendousness. Missed you! Don’t let that budding career keep you away from us.