A Bad Habit

I’d heard about this before, but finally saw an explanation as two why you should not use two spaces after a period. I was taught typing in high school and two spaces after a period was the norm (as was two spaces after a colon that preceded a list - is that still ok?). Even though we had several computer labs full of new fangled Macintoshes at the time (this was the late-80’s), typing (or keyboarding as the class was called) was taught on typewriters.  Typewriters that were modern enough to have a proportionally spaced typeface.

Even as I wrote this post, I found it hard not to put the two spaces there. It is so engrained in me. Must. Resist. Spacebar. I fell myeself turning into one of those crusty old-timers ala Dana Carvey’s “Grumpy Old Man” character, ”Why in my day, we put not one, but two spaces after a period… and we liked it!” (which by that reference alone probably dates me.)