6 ms·

The rule was definitely on the typewriter.

by LanceH 3y ago

dahart 3y ago
I’m sure it was for some people, and that’s what I used and learned in college too, but ever since then I’ve seen no end to “rules” about language that lose their qualifiers over time, are applied out of context, or are sometimes just not true and weren’t rules until someone misinterpreted some advice or just decided to demand their way was ‘correct’ and it somehow spread. It’s pretty surprising how many conventions we have that people consider canonical but didn’t used to be.
- IggleSniggle 3y ago
  The Oxford comma wasn't a rule when I was a kid, but at least that rule has some good reasoning behind it!
  - dahart 3y ago
    It was a rule somewhere, right? It was printed in a style manual in 1905. (I am totally assuming you’re not 115 years old. ;) )
    - IggleSniggle 3y ago
      Ha! Perhaps I should have said "when/where." I was specifically taught the rule was optional. A brief perusal of the Wikipedia article on the subject helps me understand that it should have been taught as "situational." And I learned about Sir Roger Casement's "hanged on a comma," so that's cool. Since it took me a minute to track down, here's the short of it so that I don't accidentally nerd-snipe anyone: http://web.archive.org/web/20110820004307/https://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question43706.html http://web.archive.org/web/20110820004307/https://www.funtri...
IggleSniggle 3y ago
I'm just old enough to remember using a typewriter for school work. And at least on the typewriter I used, the period key produced a width of exactly a period. In other words, an extra space was absolutely required just to "fill out" the period. And the small period width allowed you to do a "proper" ellipsis. I didn't quite realize that was the reason for the double space until these comments, though, as we were simply taught that it was required to put 2 spaces after a period. The comma, btw, was slightly wider.

The rule was definitely on the typewriter.

by LanceH 3y ago

The rule was definitely on the typewriter.

I’m sure it was for some people, and that’s what I used and learned in college too, but ever since then I’ve seen no end to “rules” about language that lose their qualifiers over time, are applied out of context, or are sometimes just not true and weren’t rules until someone misinterpreted some advice or just decided to demand their way was ‘correct’ and it somehow spread. It’s pretty surprising how many conventions we have that people consider canonical but didn’t used to be.

IggleSniggle 3y ago
The Oxford comma wasn't a rule when I was a kid, but at least that rule has some good reasoning behind it!
- dahart 3y ago
  It was a rule somewhere, right? It was printed in a style manual in 1905. (I am totally assuming you’re not 115 years old. ;) )
  - IggleSniggle 3y ago
    Ha! Perhaps I should have said "when/where." I was specifically taught the rule was optional. A brief perusal of the Wikipedia article on the subject helps me understand that it should have been taught as "situational." And I learned about Sir Roger Casement's "hanged on a comma," so that's cool. Since it took me a minute to track down, here's the short of it so that I don't accidentally nerd-snipe anyone: http://web.archive.org/web/20110820004307/https://www.funtrivia.com/askft/Question43706.html http://web.archive.org/web/20110820004307/https://www.funtri...

IggleSniggle 3y ago

I'm just old enough to remember using a typewriter for school work. And at least on the typewriter I used, the period key produced a width of exactly a period. In other words, an extra space was absolutely required just to "fill out" the period. And the small period width allowed you to do a "proper" ellipsis. I didn't quite realize that was the reason for the double space until these comments, though, as we were simply taught that it was required to put 2 spaces after a period. The comma, btw, was slightly wider.