The One Space/Two Space Debate

When you type, do you put one space after a period, or two? Are they both correct? Or does one of them make you a grammatical heretic to be shunned forever by the intelligentsia?

Last week, Slate.com took a fun stab at this issue. Read it here:

http://www.slate.com/id/2281146/pagenum/all/#p2

It's a Compelling Tale, But...

Slate's position is that it is NEVER correct to put two spaces after a period. They say that the only reason anyone ever followed a period with two spaces is because it looked nice when using certain fonts, on certain old-school typewriters, for a brief period of time in world history.

But I wish Slate had cited some sources. They discuss so-called historical events, acting all superior like THEY have the true story, and then just expect us to take them at their word. They do cite current sources: several style books that mandate one space after a period. But their bits about manual typewriters are just hearsay.

I checked my own copies of the Chicago Manual of Style (15th edition) and Associated Press Stylebook (copyright 2000) hoping for some reliable history on this subject. No joy.

It's What You Know

People feel strongly about this issue (just look at the comments after the Slate article). Personally, I just can't bring myself to get worked up about it. There are far worse grammatical (and typographic) crimes than one space vs. two.

In my high school typing class circa 1992, we were taught to ALWAYS put two spaces after a period. If Slate is right about monospaced fonts going out of style in the 70s, well, nobody told my teacher. Then again, our books for that class probably dated from that era...

Like many points of grammar, the way you learned it when you were in school is what sticks with you forever and ever, amen. Witness the "and I" issue. People grew up being corrected when they said things like "Jamie and me are going to the store." Some teacher or parent would be all, "That's Jamie AND I." Over the years, people internalized this lesson to such a degree that they now overcorrect and say things like, "Our preacher married my wife and I," which is dead wrong. It's not about the word "and" preceding the word "I" - it's about the word's function within the sentence (subject vs. object). But you just try telling that to Mr. Our-Preacher-Married-My-Wife-and-I. He'll fight you to the death.

I've been able to un-learn the two-spaces-after-a-period thing only because most of the publishing companies that I have worked for insist on one space. Most of them, but not all. Some insist on two spaces. I doubt the matter will be settled anytime soon.