Changes to the printed word

I was taught to leave two spaces after the full stop, but I don't often do it now because things change. And that's alright.

The date, however, should always be written with the day, followed by the month, then the year. Otherwise the numbers merge too easily.

Apparently the one space after a full-stop rule comes from typesetting with printers' blocks and the two spaces after is what secretaries using typewriters have traditionally done. Likewise, typographers indented the first word of a paragraph and typists pressed the return key twice rather than faff around with a number of spaces (before tabs, you see!). Nice knowing a bit of history .

I always put two spaces after a full stop, that's the way I learnt and it does make reading the sentences much easier and look neater
Agree also with the order of date/month/year and I find that the "American way" of month before date very confusing.

Can I mention here that I don't like the use of the word "slash" when a website address is given out, why couldn't we use the better word "solidus"

Agree with all of this - I was also taught to use two spaces after a full stop and do find it makes a block of text easier to read.
Feel much more strongly though about the order of dates - the creeping introduction of the American method is positively misleading!

I was never taught anything about typing and since the advent of computer keyboards have only ever used one space after a full stop. Didn't actually know there was a rule about it!

Thank you Tabitha for your comment on the rule applied to a full stop on printers blocks. It seems strange that this is so when they have the skill to leave two letter spaces at the start of a paragraph. I believe that it is done to save paper and hard cheese to those who find it difficult to read.

When I was learning to type, many years ago, I was told that we could either use the indent method (leaving five blank spaces) at the start of a pragraph or use double line spacing (which would leave a complete blank line) to separate paragraphs. The indent method would save paper whereas the double line spacing method was clearer and easier to read.

Also I was taught at school to leave one letter space between words and two letter spaces after a full stop; my grandchildren have been taught the same thing. When one awkward child wanted to know how much space for two letters she was told to use her first finger as a marker.

All of this does not alter the fact that I type leaving two spaces after a full stop and my typing is corrected by the computer.

Nor does it alter the fact that the date is more and more often being typed in the American fashion.

Does anyone know how to set up an e-petition to stop this erosion of the English language?

I live in Australia and have worked in both the UK and Oz. I always used two spaces after a full stop and I had recently started to think I was the only person who used two spaces.

I also prefer the day, month then year and find the American way confusing and annoying.

Maybe we could start with Gransnet, because the spell check corrects the spelling to the American way. eg theatre theater.....theatre gets a red underline under it advising it is spelt incorrectly and since when is the word spelt incorrect.

I can leave as many spaces as I like between a full-stop and the next sentence. Five there. Three there. My computer doesn't say a word or correct it. Can you guys turn that 'facility' off in your computers if you'd rather do your own thing? I've told mine to leave my spelling alone too and it does. I daresay you've noticed occasionally!

What my iPad doesn't allow me to do is have several spaces without a full-stop, so I can't have a 'pregnant pause' without doing this ....... It also puts a capital letter automatically after a full-stop but I can change that to lower case if I wish.

Oh! The swine! It 'corrected' my five spaces later when I wasn't looking! The cheek!!!!!!

Oh bagitha you are a mine of interesting snippets. i was debating this one recently due to getting folk to proof read my forthcoming ebook. "You should have 2 spaces" was scribbled on a chapter. DH agreed. I just read a book about how to epublish and author said: in business 2 spaces in publishing, 1. And you have just explained why. It's a bit like the story about the time and motion expert that was studying soldiers firing a big gun. When the gun was about to go off one member of the team walked several paces away and stood there. Turns out this started when someone had to walk several paces back and hold the horses steady. No more horses but they still did the little walk. Interesting how traditions go on, despite things changing (in this case typewriters and typesetters pretty much disappeared)
I always wonder about the one in planes where the cabin lights are dimmed for takeoff and landing. Is it because in a small plane landing by vision there is a need not to have lights reflecting on the inside of the windscreen. And does this still apply in airliners???? Or am i on the wrong track...

All typewriter keys take up the same amount of space regardless of whether the letter is an l or a w. Typesetters, using hot or cold metal in the past and computer typesetting now, space the letters more proportionately. Hence, there is no need for a double space after a full stop. BTW a short dash – such as this – is known as an en dash because it takes up the space of an n, while a long dash is known as an em dash—one like this—because it takes up the space of an m.

Ah yes, I'd forgotten that, absent. Typesetters using printing blocks also used leading (strips of lead) between lines of type to improve the look and ease on the eye of a printed page. Check out a well-published book — the spacing is more than what computers call single spacing. There are no gaps between paragraphs but the the indentation and the leading spaces mean there is no difficulty in following the print.

May I thank you all very much for sharing your knowledge and opinions on the points raised?

A Happy Christmas to one and all.

Grateful for now having a riposte to those who tell me I should have 2 spaces after full stops in my book. Now i know why my instincts correct

Looking at this thread it seems to me that the less "dense" the typing the easier it is on the eye. So, I think that two spaces after a full stop and double line spacing between paragraphs is best.

I was taught to type like this (about a hundred years ago!!) and woe-betide you if you got it wrong. I doubt I could change now anyway!

Computer typesetting and the stuff churned out on home computers are not the same things and do not look the same.

Like kittyl - I too learned to type in a fusty room above a shop in Oxford Street. We had shields that covered the keyboard so that you couldn't see where the keys were, and music played a marching rhythm.

I was working when electric typewriters were introduced and some of the really "top class" ones had wider m's, w's etc and narrow i's. Made things look much neater