They put two spaces after periods, people born in the computer age don't.

They still use editing shorthand, most people born in the computer age don't.

They tend to equate religious belief with a political party.

I will be 40 this year, and I ABSOLUTELY put two spaces after periods. It drives me nuts to see sentences separated by a single space!!!

My guess is that if you're going to be 40 then you fall into the category of "not born in the computer age".

i put two spaces after every period, grâce à mavis beacon.

Quality fonts will kern for more than one space, but less than two spaces. It bugs the hell out of me to see two.

(and being 40 means you were raised on a typewriter . . . so sorry . . .you fit into "people over a certain age" for this discussion)

I'm not sure if i qualify as being born in the computer age or not (in the eighties), but I consciously converted from only using one space after a period to two. I simply prefer it.

Raised on a typewriter? Well, I used a Kaypro with a dot-matrix printer in college, and a TRS-80 at the campus newspaper...do those count as computers?

Just call me "Gramps."

Who needs the extra keystroke?

actually i used a typwriter untill high school when i switched to a Brother word processor. I never used a mouse until i went to college.

Twenty-five, and I use 2 spaces. However, I don't use "en" dashes... I suppose I could assign a hotkey.

I have never even considered using two spaces. It never crossed my mind and it was never in those MLA books I had to follow in college paper-writing.

Aaron, maybe you should write some computer code so that when we write replies or topics it automatically makes two spaces. Just to give these Geezers a hard time. haha

sorry. I don't think people who are 40 are geezers. It was just a joke.

we are no longer taught to use two spaces because most fonts will allot for it.

I'm 33 - two spaces between sentences. That's what I learned was the correct way to type. This one-space thing seems to have developed in the last decade or so since browsers tend to only show one space, even if you have typed in two. (I think, but I may be wrong, that the new browsers will show two spaces - right?) It doesn't look right with only one space. Regardless, I ain't changing how I type.

This could be trouble.

This maybe true as I didn't own or use a computer until after college and always use two spaces. However, I don't really understand why a computer would have anything to do with it. Is it somehow harder to hit the space key twice on a computer keyboard than on a typewriter? Why would proper grammar change?

two sapces isn't visually apealing and one space is too close. So fonts put about one and a half sapces after a period. If you put two spaces you are actually putting 2.5 spaces.

so it's not a matter of propper grammar. two spaces was a solution to a typewriter issue.

I've NEVER heard this rule. I guess South Georgia teachers didn't spread the dogma of the double space. The first time I found out about this is when I had to pass a timed typing test at work to advance to the "floater" position and out of the mailroom. I took the test probably 6 times and kept failing. My grammar and spelling were near perfect (surprise to me), but I couldn't get up to the required GWAM. But now I can't remember if it was a co-worker that let me in on the secret of if I just figured it out via trial and error. I'm now 27, learned to type on a typewriter, and learned this rule (which is widely known inside my office by everyone except me) at age 25.

Jewels is my new hero with this thread.

Typewriters were monospaced, i.e. all the the letters and spacing are exactly the same width. Two spaces were used to show the break between sentences. Modern word processing software and fonts are proportionally spaced, which creates the proper spacing not only between sentences, but also between individual letters, so only one space is needed.

Two spaces traps white space and makes it more difficult to direct your eye along the block of text.

Link to examples.

I'm pretty sure I always hit the space bar twice after a period. It's such a habit that I'm not really conscious of it. I was born in '79 so I don't know if that's "in the computer age" or not. I grew up learning computer basics, and all of my papers in high school and college were typed on computers. In word processor programs, or at least in older ones, you had to use two spaces just like you would on a typewriter.

I never noticed until now, but I don't think the extra space is ever displayed in my BB posts. Just as The Mayor pointed out, either my browser or phpBB doesn't display it.

I just found out about this "rule" today and I am 26.

I was under the impression (from graphic designer friends) that two spaces after the period in printed material is still okay. In html, lots of times, even if you put two spaces at the end of a period, it truncates it to one.

edit: and I ain't old, mofo!

Two spaces. MLA's style manual dictated it, as did the style manual our high school devised.

<===typewriter through college.

<===turned in his last 35 page paper having used three different typewriters due to ribbon outages and the inability to purchase replacements after 11PM the night before.

<===used to type 65 WPM no errors.

i have to laugh at the blanket statement that "two spaces isn't visually appealing" - it probably has much more to do with what you're used to than anything else. what's so unappealing about 2 spaces?

I always put two spaces after a period becuase I've had teachers who would down grade you if you didn't.