3 ms·
> The “standard” of one space is maybe 60 years old at the most, with some publishers retaining wider spaces as a house style well into the 1950s and even a few
by rz2k 13y ago
> The “standard” of one space is maybe 60 years old at the most, with some publishers retaining wider spaces as a house style well into the 1950s and even a few in the 1960s.
This article starts off sounding like it is making an argument against prescriptivists, then claims that older standards are more authoritative?
Why not choose scriptio continua as an even more authoritative style? Or, take a look at the quality of writing in something like Readers Digest from the 1950s, and judge whether the conversational tone is worth emulating.
Regardless, most opinions are probably influenced either by such books as The Mac is not a Typewriter or alternately by a high school typing class that was based on a curriculum for professional secretaries. There were still high schools into the 1990s that taught students about carbon paper.
Even if there is a lot of unmerited arrogance about using a single space after a period, there's a lot of officiousness around a claim that two spaces after a period is "correct". If it is a generational thing between people who went to high school in the 70s and 80s vs 90s and 2000s, then it is also a difference between people who were learning business correspondence compared to people who were learning desktop publishing and web design.
- chilldream 13y agoHe's not using the existence of double-spacing as a historical standard to argue that double-spacing is correct. He's using the existence of double-spacing as a historical standard to argue that single-spacing isn't the historical standard.
- deleted 13y ago[deleted]
- theschizoidman 13y ago> Readers Digest from the 1950s ... conversational tone Any examples available of this online? You've got me curious.
- rz2k 13y agoI think they used to be on books.google.com, but here are some issues of Popular Mechanics that can be browsed: http://books.google.com/books?id=xNwDAAAAMBAJ http://books.google.com/books?id=xNwDAAAAMBAJ
- Spooky23 13y agoCheck out: http://www.conversationagent.com/2008/01/readers-digest.html http://www.conversationagent.com/2008/01/readers-digest.html They would basically re-write/condense articles and stories to an 8th grade reading level, but had a unique way of doing it so that it wasn't patronizing or content free. It was a really interesting company, they basically had capability similar to what you find in modern advertising/CRM systems to target supplemental publications and other items to magazine subscribers -- in the 1960's! Nowadays it's a bunch of drivel... stories about angels, inspirational stuff, and military themed stories aimed at old people.