4 Jan
2002
4 Jan
'02
10:59 a.m.
On Jan 4, 18:33, Hans Franke wrote:
> When I was in the 8th grade, one of the courses
we were required to
take was
> in typing. I've never gotten particularly
good at it, but I did learn
that
> a period at the end of a sentence is followed by
two spaces, for
example.
Thank you very much. So it seams there is a 'school' forcing this in
the US .... and I always wondered why some people add two spaces after
a period.
It's a recognised standard in English. The idea is to make sentence spaces
larger than word spaces. Curiously, it's not common in the printing
profession, and not at all in other languages. I imagine Hans was taught
that it's "wrong", since I imagine he learned to type in German.
--
Pete Peter Turnbull
Network Manager
University of York
4 Jan
4 Jan
2:40 p.m.
> Thank you very much. So it seams there is a
'school' forcing this in
> the US .... and I always wondered why some people add two spaces after
> a period.
It's a recognised standard in English. The idea
is to make sentence spaces
larger than word spaces. Curiously, it's not common in the printing
profession, and not at all in other languages. I imagine Hans was taught
that it's "wrong", since I imagine he learned to type in German.
I failed typing, but I don't think that's why I use just one space. :-)
Nevertheless, my dad says I'm the fastest typist he knows, despite the fact
my typing teacher got laryngitis yelling at me.
--
----------------------------- personal page: http://www.armory.com/~spectre/ --
Cameron Kaiser, Point Loma Nazarene University * ckaiser(a)stockholm.ptloma.edu
-- He hadn't a single redeeming vice. -- Oscar Wilde --------------------------
7 Jan
7 Jan
3:09 a.m.
On Jan 4, 18:33, Hans Franke wrote:
> > When I was in the 8th grade, one of the courses we were required
> > to take was in typing. I've never gotten particularly good at
> > it, but I did learn that a period at the end of a sentence is
> > followed by two spaces, for example.
> Thank you very much. So it seams there is a 'school' forcing this in
> the US .... and I always wondered why some people add two spaces after
> a period.
It's a recognised standard in English.
Well, from some other messages I got the idea that there are still
some more differences between Englisch and US typing rules.
The idea is to make sentence spaces larger than word
spaces.
Curiously, it's not common in the printing profession, and not at
all in other languages.
Well, Bear Stricklins Mail (Danke) added quite some flesh to this.
I imagine Hans was taught that it's
"wrong", since I imagine
he learned to type in German.
I was well aware about special (manual) handling for spaces on
old typesetting machinerie, but never bridged the gap to typewriter
usage. And no, I've never been told it's wrong - the question
simply never came up at all. At least for every day typing (yes,
I did take two years a typin' class at school, but all wat's left
is the proper use of the space key :) there was only two trules
about spaces (AFAIR): Three (or one, sinplified) at the beginning
of a new paragraph, and one after each punktuation (and none before).
We been told about some odd formats for accounting, but I realy don't
remember.
As for myself, at some point I startet to insert a space before
all exklamation and question marks to make them better visibly,
but that's against any 'common' style.
Gruss
H.
P.S.: In my opinion this facts are _very_ on topic, because it
touches a lot of the heritage computing took from typesetting
and typewriteing.
--
VCF Europa 3.0 am 27./28. April 2002 in Muenchen
http://www.vcfe.org/
3:30 a.m.
I, too, find it of immense interest. I recall being taught that
paragraphs were indented 5 spaces. I also remember that this was not
universal, as there was another variation, called "block style" which was
not indented at all.
I have been looking at a number of books, and noticed that some have a
single space between sentences, others two spaces. This occurrs in both
US and UK editions. I even noticed a German grammar in blackletter that
uses the double spaces, although it was US printed. I do notice, though,
that the double spacing enhances the readability of the text.
On Mon, 7 Jan 2002, Hans Franke wrote:
M. K. Peirce
Rhode Island Computer Museum, Inc.
Shady Lea, Rhode Island
"Casta est quam nemo rogavit."
- Ovid
On Jan 4,
18:33, Hans Franke wrote:
> > When I was in the 8th grade, one of the courses we were required
> > to take was in typing. I've never gotten particularly good at
> > it, but I did learn that a period at the end of a sentence is
> > followed by two spaces, for example.
> Thank you very much. So it seams there is a 'school' forcing this in
> the US .... and I always wondered why some people add two spaces after
> a period.
It's a recognised standard in English.
Well, from some other messages I got the idea that there are still
some more differences between Englisch and US typing rules.
The idea is to make sentence spaces larger than
word spaces.
Curiously, it's not common in the printing profession, and not at
all in other languages.
Well, Bear Stricklins Mail (Danke) added quite some flesh to this.
I imagine Hans was taught that it's
"wrong", since I imagine
he learned to type in German.
I was well aware about special (manual) handling for spaces on
old typesetting machinerie, but never bridged the gap to typewriter
usage. And no, I've never been told it's wrong - the question
simply never came up at all. At least for every day typing (yes,
I did take two years a typin' class at school, but all wat's left
is the proper use of the space key :) there was only two trules
about spaces (AFAIR): Three (or one, sinplified) at the beginning
of a new paragraph, and one after each punktuation (and none before).
We been told about some odd formats for accounting, but I realy don't
remember.
As for myself, at some point I startet to insert a space before
all exklamation and question marks to make them better visibly,
but that's against any 'common' style.
Gruss
H.
P.S.: In my opinion this facts are _very_ on topic, because it
touches a lot of the heritage computing took from typesetting
and typewriteing.
--
VCF Europa 3.0 am 27./28. April 2002 in Muenchen
http://www.vcfe.org/
5:03 a.m.
> > > > When I was in the 8th grade, one
of the courses we were required
> > > > to take was in typing. I've never gotten particularly good at
> > > > it, but I did learn that a period at the end of a sentence is
> > > > followed by two spaces, for example.
> > > Thank you very much. So it seams there is a 'school' forcing this
in
> > > the US .... and I always wondered why some people add two spaces after
> > > a period.
> > I imagine Hans was taught that it's
"wrong", since I imagine
> > he learned to type in German.
> there was only two trules
> about spaces (AFAIR): Three (or one, sinplified) at the beginning
> of a new paragraph, and one after each punktuation (and none before).
> We been told about some odd formats for accounting, but I realy don't
> remember.
I, too, find it of immense interest. I recall being
taught that
paragraphs were indented 5 spaces. I also remember that this was not
universal, as there was another variation, called "block style" which was
not indented at all.
Jep, same here - we been told that for strict business letters there
may be no intended first line at all.
I have been looking at a number of books, and noticed
that some have a
single space between sentences, others two spaces. This occurrs in both
US and UK editions. I even noticed a German grammar in blackletter that
uses the double spaces, although it was US printed. I do notice, though,
that the double spacing enhances the readability of the text.
The world of books (and typesetting) has always been very international,
and therefore mixed up.
Gruss
H.
--
VCF Europa 3.0 am 27./28. April 2002 in Muenchen
http://www.vcfe.org/
5:55 a.m.
My mother received all her schooling, including being taught to type, among
other things, in Germany, where Hans is a native. I figured that she could
settle this matter, if anyone could, so, just to satisfy my own curious
interest, while having Sunday dinner with my mother, I asked about the
convention regarding spaces after a period. She informed me that it was the
convention in 1935 Germany, to leave two spaces after a period. This was
probably done for the same reasons as here in the U.S. but I was curious as to
whether it was unique to the U.S. and Britain.
Perhaps you can see the sense in this, but, of course, it's arguable that it
wastes a space.
I believe it's much easier to parse out the sentences, particularly for people
like me, who visually capture more than one sentence at a time when
speed-reading. I think I'd experience a 60-80% reduction in reading speed,
which would still be quite a brisk pace to some folks, if I had to work around
higher density on the page than that to which I've accustomed myself over the
past 40+ years. I learned this when I was in my early teens, as, back then,
the school system wanted people to learn not only to read, but to read quickly
and retain the content of what they'd read. Of course, now that I have to
wear reading glasses when I'm reading, I am somewhat slower anyway, but the
established format is, I'm sure, key to the way I've been reading all these
years. That probably also explains why odd formats bother me so much.
Dick
----- Original Message -----
From: "Hans Franke" <Hans.Franke(a)mch20.sbs.de>
To: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Cc: <classiccmp(a)classiccmp.org>
Sent: Monday, January 07, 2002 9:03 AM
Subject: Re: Language and English
> > > > > When I was in the 8th grade,
one of the courses we were required
> > > > > to take was in typing. I've never gotten particularly good
at
> > > > > it, but I did learn that a period at the end of a sentence is
> > > > > followed by two spaces, for example.
> > > > Thank you very much. So it seams there is a 'school' forcing
this in
> > > > the US .... and I always wondered why some people add two spaces
after
> > >
a period.
> > I imagine Hans was taught that it's
"wrong", since I imagine
> > he learned to type in German.
> there was only two trules
> about spaces (AFAIR): Three (or one, sinplified) at the beginning
> of a new paragraph, and one after each punktuation (and none before).
> We been told about some odd formats for accounting, but I realy don't
> remember.
I, too, find it of immense interest. I recall
being taught that
paragraphs were indented 5 spaces. I also remember that this was not
universal, as there was another variation, called "block style" which was
not indented at all.
Jep, same here - we been told that for strict business letters there
may be no intended first line at all.
I have been looking at a number of books, and
noticed that some have a
single space between sentences, others two spaces. This occurrs in both
US and UK editions. I even noticed a German grammar in blackletter that
uses the double spaces, although it was US printed. I do notice, though,
that the double spacing enhances the readability of the text.
The world of books (and typesetting) has always been very international,
and therefore mixed up.
Gruss
H.
--
VCF Europa 3.0 am 27./28. April 2002 in Muenchen
http://www.vcfe.org/
8 Jan
8 Jan
6:58 p.m.
I, too, find it of immense interest. I recall being taught that
paragraphs were indented 5 spaces. I also remember that this was not
universal, as there was another variation, called "block style" which was
not indented at all.
I have been looking at a number of books, and noticed that some have a
single space between sentences, others two spaces. This occurrs in both
US and UK editions. I even noticed a German grammar in blackletter that
uses the double spaces, although it was US printed. I do notice, though,
that the double spacing enhances the readability of the text.
In a lawsuit I was involved in regarding an IEEE audio serial interface spec, the expert
attempted to explain block/frame
identifiers to a lay jury by analogizing them to punctuation identifying the beginnings of
paragraphs and sentences. An indent
indicated the start of a block (and the first frame in the block) and a period indicated
the start of a frame (that was not the
first frame in the block). Under this analogy, the spaces after the period were
superfluous.
8227
days inactive
8231
days old
6 comments
6 participants
participants (6)
-
at258＠osfn.org -
edick＠idcomm.com -
Hans.Franke＠mch20.sbs.de -
pete＠dunnington.u-net.com -
spectre＠stockholm.ptloma.edu -
wmsmith＠earthlink.net