On 17 Aug 2002, it is alleged that Jay Garcia sauntered in to netscape.public.mozilla.mail-news and loudly proclaimed:
> On 17/08/02 00:27, Brian Heinrich Replied As Follows: > > --- Original Message --- > >> On 16 Aug 2002, it is alleged that Jay Garcia sauntered in to >> netscape.public.mozilla.mail-news and loudly proclaimed: >> >>> On 16/08/02 10:16, Rob Stow Replied As Follows: >>> >>> --- Original Message --- >>> >>>> Up here in the land north of Yankee-land we were taught >>>> that there should be one space after a period, except when >>>> a period was used to indicate the end of a sentence, in which >>>> case two spaces should be used. >>>> >>>> The reason for this has nothing to do with that nonsense >>>> about monospaced fonts that someone else suggested: we >>>> were using the double-space rule even with handwriting. >>>> >>>> We were taught this rule right from kindergarten and hence had >>>> about 10 years of practice with it before *some* of us >>>> took typing classes in high school - computers in schools were >>>> still about a decade away at the time I graduated in 1983. >>>> >>>> When I look at things written by my nephews (ages 12 and 14) >>>> it is apparent that this rule is still being taught in >>>> Canadian schools. >>>> >>> >>> More nonsense ??? >>> >>> I consider Adobe to be an authority on the subject of fonts, etc. >>> >>> Here, read this, especially the "Why space-space is a no-no". >>> >>> http://www.adobe.com/print/tips/felici20001030/main.html >> >> Interestingly, I just refuted that article by pulling a book off a >> shelf, published in the U. K. in 1863, in which 'double-spacing' >> follows a full stop. (I didn't check closely enough to see what the >> convention was in re. a colon; that seems to have been somewhat >> variable.) The book -- an eight- volume history of England originally >> published in serial form and then bound in four fairly hefty tomes -- >> was, I believe, published prior to the invention of the typewriter. >> >> Mr Felici's argument is interesting and certainly reflects current >> practice. It's just that he, um, well, happens to be /wrong/. >> >> /b. >> > > No, Mr Felici is right on the mark according to present day conventions. > You need to do more MODERN day research as I have. No, his argument is fundamentally flawed, in as much as it is based on the assumption that the double space after a full stop is a convention limited to typewriters and fixed-pitch fonts, whereas it is not. And I don't think I've ever been dogmatic on the use of a double space after a full stop (let alone after a colon, which often *is* just a single space, even in older texts). The convention seems to be changing. That's fine. But to say that a double space after a full stop is incorrect is itself an assertion that is both dogmatic and wrong. /b. -- Mozilla end-user questions should be directed to: snews://secnews.netscape.com:563/netscape.mozilla.user.general snews://secnews.netscape.com:563/netscape.mozilla.user.win32 snews://secnews.netscape.com:563/netscape.mozilla.user.mac snews://secnews.netscape.com:563/netscape.mozilla.user.unix Note that you need to have SSL enabled and the port set to 563.
