Thank you! I thought I was the only person (other than my graphic designer husband) this bothered. I confess to being a two-spacer until I went to work for a graphic design firm...they quickly taught me the right way. I'm not sure anyone who learned to type on a typewriter versus a computer ever learns this rule. Don't they notice that it looks awful, though?

Well, I learned to type on a typewriter. Then, I learned to type on a Mac. At some point, somebody told me that the Mac makes the spaces for you; and I noticed the extra space looked weird. So after what I recall as a little, not a lot of getting used to it, I stopped making two spaces and started making one.

That's why I'm so mystified about this!

Way back when, rightly or wrongly, we were taught this in journalism school: Two spaces after a period. I think it was AP style at the time.

AP style, huh?

In an e-mail containing two spaces after every period, another correspondent blames her CATHOLIC UPBRINGING!

"Dear David. You obviously never attended Catholic school. Mrs. Latta (God love her) was my 8th grade teacher and she insisted that you place two spaces after every period. And if you attended Catholic school, you'd understand that, even at age 37, Mrs. Latta lives on every day in my head. And if you crossed a Catholic school teacher (especially a nun) - well, let's just say they made sure it didn't happen again."

So far, it appears that OVERLY EFFECTIVE EDUCATION is the root cause here--not a problem we generally worry about in this country!

David,
I'd say that I fall into the category of those who learned to type on a typewriter (yes, in high school) and never learned that there are different rules for computers.

Actually, I just learned last year in a Graphics Design course (for newsletters and communications stuff) that we should only be using one space. I haven't made that mistake again, and I've been trying to spread the good news ever since.

Glynn, for God sakes, if you won't listen to me, listen to Audrey. Two spaces on typewriters. One space on the computer! I know you can make this change in your life. And I know we're all here for you if you're willing ....

I put two spaces after a period in memory of my typing teacher at Pontiac Township High School, Pontiac, Illlinois (not Michigan). Miss Sarah Mulaney, rest her soul, was the kind of person you would have loved, David. She cared. She loved her work. She adored quotations because they used that hard-to-reach quotation key. She made the a;sldkfjgh drill fun. Anyone who pooh-poohs two spaces dishonors Miss Mulaney. Shame on you, sir!

David, thanks for bringing this issue to light. It has been a pet peeve of mine for many, many years. I actually left a senior editor job partly because the insane CEO insisted that two spaces be inserted after every period in his newsletter, which I ghost-wrote. In my futile attempt to prove that he was wrong, I actually corresponded with one of the world's leading typography experts in London as I amassed overwhelming and definitive evidence that the software puts the right amount of space in automatically.

But to no avail. The communications VP looked at the case that had been put before her and said, "Nope, Dirwood (the CEO) and I think it looks better with two spaces." And that was it. You could steer a bloody canoe through the type in this newsletter for all the space between the sentences. It made me want to puke.

There are times in a communicator's career that one feels totally helpless and impotent in the face of management incompetence disguised as arrogance, and this was one of them. The extra space, in the end, didn't really matter so much. What mattered was that after 20 years in the business, people still wouldn't respect the communicator as an expert in communication.

And what about putting commas and periods inside of quoatation marks? Another much-abused stylistic rule. But don't get me started.

I was taught to put two spaces after a sentence until I started doing it on a computer, then was told one space.
As for puttting commas, etc inside the quotation marks, that is per the AP styleguide. the styleguide also says to only use one space after periods, so it has been updated.

In my case, the reason is simple: my CEO tells me to.

I feel exactly the opposite. In my opinion the two spaces make it easier to read and scan. And I didn't learn on a typewriter.

Interestingly, before reading your post, I had always attributed it to sloppiness on the part of the software developers to not adhere to the traditional standard. Even accounting for proportional fonts, I do not see why you think moving to a word processor made it unnecessary.

I see you have a different opinion, but I hope you realize that it is not only .

Dear Marketer:

The Bitter Space Cowboy gave up his job so that communicators like you would have the right to decide how many spaces you wanted to place after a period.

But if your prose suddenly fills with canoes and even wider watercraft, don't say this blog didn't warn you.

David

just a note from someone that is NOT in the writer, graphic designer, or CEO-ass-kissing profession...

this software developer has had the 2-space rule hard-coded into her brain since typing class in 1986. and since my profession is not one that would be privy to this kind of pertinent information, maybe you should publish some info to your fellow employee communicators so that the one-space rule gets trickled down to the masses.

luckily i have a brother-in-law-slash-grad-school-essay-editor that can set me straight.

until next time, when i hear your lecture about innappropriate lowercase letters...