To the darling slaves of psycho-babble .

[xoxoxoBruce]

Originally Posted by bbro

Same here, I still do it, just by habit. If I don't, it seems smooshed together to me.

I never heard of it....was this taught in typing class?

[BigV]

Yep. My text looks fine in the edit box and cramped in the post. I probably sing better in the shower too.

[Beestie]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

I never heard of it....was this taught in typing class?

Yep. And everywhere else - preparing legal briefs, technical writing, journalism, etc. I don't think they stopped teaching it until the advent of the proportional font in word processors.

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by Beestie

Yep. And everywhere else - preparing legal briefs, technical writing, journalism, etc. I don't think they stopped teaching it until the advent of the proportional font in word processors.

Spaces after punctuation, of course. But never before.

[footfootfoot]

Originally Posted by MaggieL

If
                       you're inclined

                           ...to express yourself so typographically 

        (and typewriterly; like Don Marquis' cockroach Archie, 
        who communicated by jumping on typewriter 
        keys and could thus only type all in lower 
        case, observing "i never learned to shift for myself"...) 

 -- and thus require high visual fidelity to your keying --
 
 I    d o    r e c o m m e n d   t h e   < c o d e >    tag.

i'm having
an e.e. cummings
moment

Originally Posted by case

I am still reeling from the fact that I had always thought it proper to put 2 spaces after a period, and one after a comma. In fact, I remember getting deductions on high school term papers for such debauchery as using only one space after a period. Have I now entered an alternate universe? Worse yet, had I entered an alternate universe, previously and just now noticed? If so, when did life as I knew it change? Holy shit! What happened to my pants?!?

That is true according to Strunk and White's "The Elements of Style"

It is two spaces AFTER a period, not BEFORE. And one space after a comma or other mid sentence break, (e.g. semicolon).

And yes you have entered an alternate universe; it was a while ago; life as you knew it changed on October 17, 1978 6:25 am GMT.

Relax, your pants are just down around your ankles.

[Rock Steady]

I actually had a dot-comma argument with my partner about a writing style issue. On the phone, he says to me "No comma between the last two elements of a list; from Strunk and White". So, I pull the book down from my shelf and it says the oppposite as in: "blue, green, red, and yellow" So, I used that style on our company web site.

But, in modern practice my partner was right. In many ways modern usage has evolved from the time of Strunk and White. Now a better guide is the AP Style Book by Associated Press.

http://www.apstylebook.com

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by Rock Steady

Now a better guide is the AP Style Book by Associated Press.

http://www.apstylebook.com

Hmmph. Given how accurate they seem to be in other realms I surely wouldn't worship anything AP says. Consider cross-checking with the Chicago Manual and the Holt Handbook before gainsaying Strunk and White.

[bbro]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

I never heard of it....was this taught in typing class?

I actually never took typing class. They were part of the guidelines when writing papers in High School (maybe middle school). Points were deducted if there was only one space.

[Rock Steady]

Originally Posted by MaggieL

Hmmph. Given how accurate they seem to be in other realms I surely wouldn't worship anything AP says. Consider cross-checking with the Chicago Manual and the Holt Handbook before gainsaying Strunk and White.

That's like saying Allen Iverson has a lot of turnovers; well he handles the ball 80% of the time. Associated Press writes 80% of the news for this country. The media outlets just present it to you. Fox News spends less money to gather news itself than any other major outlet. AP is a non-profit organization owned by its corporate members.

[Shawnee123]

Originally Posted by Rock Steady

"blue, green, red, and yellow" http://www.apstylebook.com

To me, not having the final comma makes it look like the last two elements are a part of a whole. A more illustrative example of this might be something like: "An airplane, a spaceship, cars, and trucks." To write it "an airplane, a spaceship, cars and trucks" sets cars and trucks as a part of a whole i.e. cars and trucks as land-roving vehicles.

I don't think I'm explaining myself very well, but I do remember being taught to put the comma before the 'and' in a list.

[Rock Steady]

Yes, I totally agree with you S123. As a computer scientist my feeling is that without the comma, the statement doesn't type check.

But, after this argument that I had, I noticed professional journalists don't use the comma anymore. I was arguing with a guy who was an Editor in Chief of several publications. It's a stupid convention, but that's the way it's done now.

Commas are important. "Eats shoots and leaves" or "Eats, shoots and leaves"?

[Griff]

Originally Posted by Rock Steady

Yes, I totally agree with you S123. As a computer scientist my feeling is that without the comma, the statement doesn't type check.

ditto

I think you would all enjoy reading the relatively recent book by Lynne Truss , entitled 'Eats , Shoots and Leaves '. It was in every Brit's Christmas stocking two years ago .

The title shows how much the incorrect use of a comma can transform a sentence . In this particular case , the diet of a panda can be misconstrued as being something to do with a Far-West shoot-out .

[MaggieL]

Originally Posted by Rock Steady

Associated Press writes 80% of the news for this country.

Doesn't make it any truer.

[Rock Steady]

Originally Posted by MaggieL

Doesn't make it any truer.

Actually, it does make it truer. If they are the ones who write the news, they make the new comma rule happen.

Until I had a partnership with AP, I didn't realize how ubiquitous their content is.