# What Writers Argue About (funny)



## GeekDavid (Nov 1, 2013)

From XKCD.


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## druidofwinter (Nov 1, 2013)

One space after a period.


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## teacup (Nov 1, 2013)

...I wasn't even aware people did 2 spaces after a period.


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## GeekDavid (Nov 1, 2013)

teacup said:


> ...I wasn't even aware people did 2 spaces after a period.



When I was a kid, when it was typewriters instead of word processors, the rule was 2 spaces at the end of a sentence.


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## CupofJoe (Nov 1, 2013)

GeekDavid said:


> When I was a kid, when it was typewriters instead of word processors, the rule was 2 spaces at the end of a sentence.


Some old-school journals were still demanding two-spaces-after-period as part of their formatting for printed submissions... It is supposed to make text easier to read/understand; I have been told.


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## Black Dragon (Nov 1, 2013)

I still do two spaces after each period.  It was drilled into me in school, so it doesn't feel right otherwise.


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## GeekDavid (Nov 1, 2013)

Black Dragon said:


> I still do two spaces after each period.  It was drilled into me in school, so it doesn't feel right otherwise.



If memory serves, MS Word actually flags that if you have their grammar checker turned on. I tend to keep it turned off so I'm not sure.


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## Svrtnsse (Nov 1, 2013)

teacup said:


> ...I wasn't even aware people did 2 spaces after a period.



I learned of this only recently.
From what I recall it's related to readability on text written on typewriters (like GeekDavid mentioned). Presumably it's because typewriters always have the same width letters and always move the paper forward the same amount when pressing a key. Keeping that in mind it may very well be easier to read that way.

Personally I only ever put one space after a period.


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## Steerpike (Nov 1, 2013)

Yep, it is left over from typewriter days. I used to use two spaces, but now I just use one.


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## Devor (Nov 1, 2013)

I was taught two spaces after a period, and I'm not very old.  I still do it, but the internet only keeps one space, so it barely matters.

I've never seen writers argue about it, though.


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## Butterfly (Nov 1, 2013)

Period!?  It's a full-stop.


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## GeekDavid (Nov 1, 2013)

Butterfly said:


> Period!?  It's a full-stop.



Oh, now you've just opened up a whole new can of worms there...


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## A. E. Lowan (Nov 3, 2013)

I'm a two spaces girl, all the way, but I was trained by my mother, who is really old school.


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## Lawfire (Nov 3, 2013)

I was taught two as well. It is a very hard habit to break (for me at least).


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## Chilari (Nov 3, 2013)

I was taught two in primary school and one in secondary school. I prefer how one space looks, it flows better and the overall visual is without those annoying white spaces. I'm definitely a one spacer.

And yes, it's a full stop. A period is what happens once a month.


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## teacup (Nov 3, 2013)

Chilari, what happens once a month should be the full stop.


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## Ireth (Nov 3, 2013)

All through school I was taught to put one space after a full stop, but as soon as I started looking for "standard manuscript formatting", the majority seem to say two spaces is correct. I've gotten into the habit of using two spaces in my manuscripts and one everywhere else.


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## Zero Angel (Nov 4, 2013)

teacup said:


> ...I wasn't even aware people did 2 spaces after a period.



You must be very young. I didn't learn two spaces until some update of Microsoft Word after I was in college when they started telling me I was grammatically incorrect for doing what I had been forced to do in both handwriting and on computer my entire school career. 

It's not too hard to get over though. Especially, if you type at all quickly. The double space is too much thumb action.

Although, I just gave myself nostalgia through the muscle memory of double-spacing, so THAT'S SOMETHING.

Never heard of full-stop before, but I totally support this choice. 

Although, I'm not quite sure I get the objection that periods being slang for menstruation means that is only appropriate for that use. How do you describe how long it takes to repeat for trig functions? Or units of time in history? Picasso's Blue Full-Stop?


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## Steerpike (Nov 4, 2013)

You can also find and replace when you're done to get rid of double spaces.


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## Chilari (Nov 4, 2013)

Zero Angel said:


> Although, I'm not quite sure I get the objection that periods being slang for menstruation means that is only appropriate for that use. How do you describe how long it takes to repeat for trig functions? Or units of time in history? Picasso's Blue Full-Stop?



I was only joking, and the joke wouldn't have been as funny if I'd put in historical periods and suchlike as well. Also I've never considered "period" to be slang for menstruation, just a word for it that's fairly normal.

Full stop is the British word for the punctuation mark Americans call a period. I believe it's also the root of the telegraph word STOP used at the end of sentences because morse code doesn't have punctation.


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## Zero Angel (Nov 4, 2013)

Chilari said:


> I was only joking, and the joke wouldn't have been as funny if I'd put in historical periods and suchlike as well. Also I've never considered "period" to be slang for menstruation, just a word for it that's fairly normal.
> 
> Full stop is the British word for the punctuation mark Americans call a period. I believe it's also the root of the telegraph word STOP used at the end of sentences because morse code doesn't have punctation.



I was also joking. I did think it was a euphemism/slang however. It's supposed to be, "menstruation period", so just calling it a period is an alteration to the official, which I think counts as slang? 

I figured it was British. Yins get all the cool words.


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## Chilari (Nov 4, 2013)

Zero Angel said:


> Yins get all the cool words.



No, we get all the _*correct*_ words. Your American words are all unEnglish. And badly spelled! So there! *sticks out tongue*

(In case you didn't know, I occasionally refer to the English language as "English English from England".)


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## Steerpike (Nov 4, 2013)

I don't know. I found an article a few years ago by some linguists who claimed to look at the English language historically and said American English was more pure than that used in Britain. Don't know how true it is, but I nevertheless used it to tease my Brit friends.


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## teacup (Nov 4, 2013)

> but I nevertheless used it to tease my Brit friends.


Hey, you're in enough trouble from the Boston Tea Party already.


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## Steerpike (Nov 4, 2013)

teacup said:


> Hey, you're in enough trouble from the Boston Tea Party already.



That was settled when we sent the limeys packing.


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## Reaver (Nov 4, 2013)

Easy folks! We're the only true alliance left in the world today. Ironic when you think about it, but I for one am thankful for our British friends.


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## Zero Angel (Nov 4, 2013)

Chilari said:


> No, we get all the _*correct*_ words. Your American words are all unEnglish. And badly spelled! So there! *sticks out tongue*
> 
> (In case you didn't know, I occasionally refer to the English language as "English English from England".)



haha, that's a good way to refer to it. 

I prefer the added u in colour and honour and such, but I confess to a strong distaste for using s instead of z in realize and the like, and I cannot abide by maths instead of math. At first I thought it was just a silent s added, but yins actually pronounce it!


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## Ireth (Nov 4, 2013)

Zero Angel said:


> I cannot abide by maths instead of math. At first I thought it was just a silent s added, but yins actually pronounce it!



But... look at the full word: mathematic*s*. It's plural, therefore technically maths is correct. Though, IMO, math is fine too.


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## Chilari (Nov 5, 2013)

Yeah, it's not just one math, we do lots of calculations. Thus it's maths. It's like, you need more than one fent to make a barrier between your garden and your neighbour's - a fence.


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## CupofJoe (Nov 5, 2013)

Steerpike said:


> I don't know. I found an article a few years ago by some linguists who claimed to look at the English language historically and said American English was more pure than that used in Britain. Don't know how true it is, but I nevertheless used it to tease my Brit friends.


I heard pretty much the same thing. Current American English is based mostly 17C English English [and that is why Americans have "fall" and "creek" etc.], where as English English was "corrupted" [the word I remember from the article] by 18C French when the nobility fled to London society to escape the revolution and brought their fancy words with them [and the use of the "u" which was apparently not that common before...] Then the British just carried on stealing words they liked every time they expanded the empire. 
All this mingling has given me a very rich language to play with and for that I am grateful.


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## teacup (Nov 5, 2013)

Just wait til I'm emperor of the world, Steerpike. All shall be limey.


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## Aidan of the tavern (Nov 5, 2013)

To be honest I read "2 stops after period" and thought what on earth does that mean? 
I'm very much a two-spaces-after-full-stop person, it just sets the spaces between sentences apart from the spaces between letters, so I just find it easier to read.


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## Zero Angel (Nov 5, 2013)

Chilari said:


> Yeah, it's not just one math, we do lots of calculations. Thus it's maths. It's like, you need more than one fent to make a barrier between your garden and your neighbour's - a fence.



I understand the desire for the s, but it still sounds funny after the th. 

Fent is not really a single fencepost, is it?


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## GeekDavid (Nov 5, 2013)

Zero Angel said:


> Fent is not really a single fencepost, is it?



That must be one of them British English things.


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## Chilari (Nov 6, 2013)

Zero Angel said:


> Fent is not really a single fencepost, is it?



No. Just messing with you. It's a joke a few of my friends have. If something doesn't make sense, it doesn't make even one single cent; a fence is plural for fent and there are few other things too in the same vein.


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