(taking a break between editing things)

[deird1]

When I am Evil Overlord, I will:

- have world-wide seminars on correct use of the comma.
- use unspeakable punishments involving scorpions on people who put two spaces in between sentences.
- make the Oxford comma compulsory.
- threaten more scorpions for people who waffle on rather than using plain English.
- have an elite army of Ninja Punctuators, who will assassinate all people who use semi-colons without knowing what they're for.

Comments

[lirazel]

I put two spaces in between sentences!

But I also use the Oxford comma religiously, so.

[velvetwhip]

I use the Oxford comma!


Gabrielle

[nimthiriel]

Interesting. When I was in primary school, we were told to put a gap of two spaces after a full stop.

[deird1]

Used to be the rule (because of typewriters), but it's now considered incorrect.

[zeborah]

Eh, one space, two space, I'm convinced it's all purely fashion.  Personally I think it makes no sense for there to be no more spacing between two sentences than between two words, though certainly I'll defer to typesetters' expertise for properly published material.

But for myself, I use two spaces all the time (also after colons; but one after semi-colons, which I consider more akin to -- though obviously not identical to -- commas).  This is partly because I write my mss in Courier, 12pt, double-spaced, 5em indentation.  Anything destined for the web will have the extra space disappear automatically, unless I mischievously engage in shenanigans; and if some non-web place particularly doesn't want them then they can either say so and I'll run find/replace, or not say so and run find/replace themselves.  By contrast, running find/replace in the opposite direction requires several rounds to deal with all the variation of punctuation.

I also put spaces around my em-dashes, unless they indicate an interruption, for similar reasons(and because smushing parentheticals up against the things they're parenthetical from looks stupid)and have no intention to change this practice either.  Proofing for Project Gutenberg, which doesn't in English, always makes me a little sad.

[(Anonymous)]

Prescriptive vs. descriptive!

[goldenusagi]

Who decides these things, LOL? Where's the committee?!

I don't think I can type without putting two spaces in between sentences. It's automatic. They teach us this crap in school and then change it!

[glorious-pancake-morning.blogspot.com]

The part that bothers me about this is people don't notice the change if you're editing onscreen. Or maybe it's just the guy I'm editing for, who for some reason doesn't understand that if he just ACCEPTS ALL CHANGES he doesn't have to enter them in manually. That's the only explanation I can think of for why when I check the finals there are always errors I corrected that haven't been fixed. Argh.

[curiouswombat]

By who?

All our admin. and government staff still put two spaces after a full stop. So do I. So does my daughter who was taught much more recently. It was very clearly required in all the information to d with both of her degrees.

So is the new, squashed up, version just an Australian thing?

[deird1]

Nope - I'm going by Hart's Rules, which is the Oxford standard.

[curiouswombat]

Ah - another Oxford affectation. I will free to ignore it and continue to write as I was taught. Which was, of course, by a Cambridge graduate.

[trouble]

I am learning! I am not putting two spaces after everything! But it's hard. :(

[vass]

Bring on your scorpions. I will put two spaces between them too.

[slaymesoftly]

ROFLMAO Let me know how that works out for you, Evil Overlord. :)

[next_to_normal]

Well, at least you would use your powers for good! :)

[me_llamo_nic]

Hail to the Overlord!

[redsixwing]

*prepares for scorpions*

I admit use of semicolons, and also I admit my love for the weird little buggers.

this is terrible

[angearia]

Re: this is terrible

[deird1]

*is horrified*

But... the lack of clarity! My lovely lovely commas!

[guy-who-reads.blogspot.com]

Ooo, can you also make your ninjas ensure that any public figure who requests all of their papers be destroyed be severely punished? For the good of future generations, naturally.

I use an Oxford comma. When writing informally, I only put one space between sentences.