Via the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, a lively debate on the radio program Q: Q's Great Spaces Debate. You can listen to the 17-minute discussion between Farhad Manjoo and engineer-blogger Tom Lee.
I well recall the moment in 1952 when, as a novice SF writer just starting to type my stories, a somewhat older reader told me "two spaces after a period." I followed that rule ever after, even after the advent of word processing.
Then in 1995 I read The Mac is Not a Typewriter, which made a forceful case for one space. I henceforth taught my students to use just one space, and met resistance just about every semester. Now I'm safely retired, but the debate continues.
Fascinating! I learned to touch type on a high school typewriter so the two spaces rule was drilled into me. I've never had to think about it since. It's a very well-established habit that will be hard to break...
Posted by: Nicomi | August 21, 2011 at 11:11 PM