Petty Vents

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It is a bit sneaky isn't it? I think the point is just that you no longer have to artificially add spaces when you can format a whole document. You should see my students struggle with APA style citations! The whole quote thing just sends them into orbit.
 
If you left justify (normal in most cases) the double space after a period makes sense. It's not so much the typewriter that causes it as the justification style you choose.

I rarely justify my paragraphs because weird spacing sometimes occurs and it looks funny to me. I realize it's useful in some cases.
 
If you left justify (normal in most cases) the double space after a period makes sense. It's not so much the typewriter that causes it as the justification style you choose.

I rarely justify my paragraphs because weird spacing sometimes occurs and it looks funny to me. I realize it's useful in some cases.

The typewriter didn't CAUSE it. My apologies, I have been unclear. What I mean is that when we all used typewriters, the double space is what we were taught. Now that we use computers, it is considered unnecessary, and therefore is no longer taught in keyboarding classes. It is neither right nor wrong to double space after a sentence, it is merely noteworthy in determining when you learned to type/keyboard. ;)
 
Funny, on my iPhone you don't even need to put the period at the end of the sentence. All I need to do is double space, and it puts the period in for me. It's hard switching back and forth from the iPhone to the computer.
 
I enjoy hearing the background typing on Mad Men -- like my good old IBM Selectric -- but I don't miss using it. Don't miss Whiteout or carbon paper either....

Is there a dinosaur smilie?
 
tinlizzie said:
I enjoy hearing the background typing on Mad Men -- like my good old IBM Selectric -- but I don't miss using it. Don't miss Whiteout or carbon paper either....

Is there a dinosaur smilie?

But, do you miss the smell of the mimeograph?
 
tinlizzie said:
Not a bit! And I hereby award you a Dinosaur Smilie.

We used to love to smell our papers when the teacher gave them to us! Am I aging myself?...
 
We used to love to smell our papers when the teacher gave them to us! Am I aging myself?...

And they were cool to the touch, fresh off the mimeograph. I'm only old on the outside, my inside is very young.
 
The typewriter didn't CAUSE it. My apologies, I have been unclear. What I mean is that when we all used typewriters, the double space is what we were taught. Now that we use computers, it is considered unnecessary, and therefore is no longer taught in keyboarding classes. It is neither right nor wrong to double space after a sentence, it is merely noteworthy in determining when you learned to type/keyboard. ;)

It had to do with fixed font size. All the letters were given the same amount of space, e.g., "i" and "w" were allotted the same amount of space. There were little gaps and the double space after the period made it clear that there was an actual space. Now we use proportional fonts and there aren't little gaps of varying size between letters, so a single space is plenty obvious.
 
I'm going to add, that html (the code used for webpages--and it is similar to this forum), two spaces, three spaces, four spaces or more, are always translated by the browser (firefox, safari, netscape, MSIE) as one space. When you read it, you might think there is only one space after each sentence, but, there may actually be more.

So this is one space. <--
This is two spaces. <--
This is three spaces. <--
This is four spaces. <--
This is five spaces. <--

Go ahead and try it for yourself. Post with five spaces after each sentence and see what happens.
 
No, BT didn't put the question mark, so in logical punctuation, it has to go outside the quotes. But, technically, shouldn't it should be, "... getting ..."? Or just plain getting?

Ah, yes, thank you. See it's all kind of confusing until you have a good example like this.
 
I'm trying to set up shipping for a package for my son, to be sent tomorrow through the USPS.
I know I can buy the flat rate shipping box with a label from the USPS, if I print it out at home and notify them to pick it up.
So, you know who, stopped at the local USPS office to pick up a label and pay for it. The local USPS won't give him a label and require that it goes over the counter to be weighed. That is ridiculous! It's flat rate for anything under 70 lbs, and it is decidedly under 70 lbs.

I go on to the USPS site and I can buy the label, print it, ask for a free pick up by the carrier.
The local post office: What are they thinking? How unhelpful can they be?
 
Ah, yes, thank you. See it's all kind of confusing until you have a good example like this.
American practice is to put the punctuation (period, comma, exclamation mark, question mark) inside the double quotation marks. British practice is to put the punctuation outside of the quotation marks. Canadian style typically follows American style except some style guides recommend for legal texts to follow British style. Exceptions are if one uses double quotations to set off software commands, then the punctuation goes outside the quotation marks. Simple to remember:LOL:. I always have to check British style guides when editing stuff for the Canadian government because the government tends to follow more British style guidelines than other companies, but does a hybrid of American and British that is unique to the Canadian government--or, at least that is my opinion, because I don't encounter this problem (having to check these things) when editing stuff for other NA clients.
 
American practice is to put the punctuation (period, comma, exclamation mark, question mark) inside the double quotation marks. British practice is to put the punctuation outside of the quotation marks. Canadian style typically follows American style except some style guides recommend for legal texts to follow British style. Exceptions are if one uses double quotations to set off software commands, then the punctuation goes outside the quotation marks. Simple to remember:LOL:. I always have to check British style guides when editing stuff for the Canadian government because the government tends to follow more British style guidelines than other companies, but does a hybrid of American and British that is unique to the Canadian government--or, at least that is my opinion, because I don't encounter this problem (having to check these things) when editing stuff for other NA clients.

Interesting. I'm both a US and a Canadian citizen. I'm trying to fix a set of rules regarding punctuation in my head as right and wrong. I suppose, since I was born in the US, I'll adopt the US rules for myself.
I'm going to have to review some of the information provided here--about the parentheses rules, and how they differ from single and double quotes rules.

(I just said "WHERE ARE YOU GOING?" to you know who. I think it kind of irritates him, but, I really wanted to know.)
 
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