# Are you a single, or two-spacer? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [May 9, 2018, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-single-or-two-spacer/813835 "2018-05-09T00:25:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 3:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-single-or-two-spacer/813835/41 "2018-05-09T03:41:26Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > Yes. I assume you are probably on the younger side of the board, like under, I dunno, about 38 or so. I’m just about to turn 30 and I’m an inveterate two spacer but pretty much everyone my age is a one spacer and they tend to look at me with two heads on the very rare occasions that it comes up. I assume it was the fault of my grade school keyboarding teachers who were taught to type on typewriters and when computers came along, never thought to question what they had been taught as best practices. I do know I merrily wound my way through high school and college typing two spaces and no one ever batted an eye. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-single-or-two-spacer/813835/42 "2018-05-09T04:02:35Z")
> [@Telemark](#): > > I learned double spacing in junior high in 1976, and I’m managed to unlearn that. I use single space most of the time. I occasionally lapse into double space but for the most part I’m converted. I’m assuming I must have learned double spacing back when I took a high school typing class around that same time. It apparently was a common rule back then. But I honestly can’t remember being taught this. I single space because it never occurred to me not to single space. If I was ever taught to double space, I had long forgotten it years before I ever owned a computer. It was only a couple of years ago that I heard that double spacing was even a thing that people did. ---
**Author:** ![Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hilarity_n.suze/32/6223_2.png) [@Hilarity\_N.Suze](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hilarity_N.Suze)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-single-or-two-spacer/813835/43 "2018-05-09T06:18:18Z")
> [@Lancia](#): > > Neither. I use tab. I sincerely hope nobody ever has to pour one of your documents into InDesign. ---
**Author:** ![snfaulkner](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/snfaulkner/32/433_2.png) [@snfaulkner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snfaulkner)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 6:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-single-or-two-spacer/813835/44 "2018-05-09T06:34:20Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > I thought it was gonna be about Ghetto BMW CV shaft repair. And if it was, what would be your answer? ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 6:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-single-or-two-spacer/813835/45 "2018-05-09T06:54:04Z")
Double space, because I learned to type on daisy wheel typewriters and the like. I know many modern text presentation modes will render the spaces however they like (for example HTML just collapses it down to one space), but I still type two out of deeply ingrained habit. ---
**Author:** ![DavidwithanR](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/3bc359/32.png) [@DavidwithanR](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DavidwithanR)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-single-or-two-spacer/813835/46 "2018-05-09T06:56:46Z")
Some software can be set to disallow repeated spaces. It’s a good feature to activate if you tend to double. (I know Word does it, probably lots of others too.) ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 8:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-single-or-two-spacer/813835/47 "2018-05-09T08:03:24Z")
Double space after a period or a colon. I don’t stop to think about it one way or the other. ---
**Author:** ![septimus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/septimus/32/410_2.png) [@septimus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/septimus)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 8:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-single-or-two-spacer/813835/48 "2018-05-09T08:17:04Z")
I still use _vi_ for (almost) all my editing and it “knows” to follow a period with two spaces in response to a ‘J(join)’ command. Why would I want to fight _vi_ by using single spaces? (Do those who use _vi_ but prefer single spaces edit away all the double spaces _vi_ has inserted?) It’s rather irrelevant anyway: Most of my writing is run through _html_ rendering before seen by others. This post is written with double spaces — can anyone see them? ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 8:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-single-or-two-spacer/813835/49 "2018-05-09T08:23:42Z")
> [@pulykamell](#): > > +1 +2 For all those here who think double spaces are ‘correct’, please look up ‘mono spaced alphabets’ to understand why it was standard practice on typewriters, and not standard for typesetting and modern word processing. ---
**Author:** ![I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/i_love_me_vol.i/32/521_2.png) [@I\_Love\_Me\_Vol.I](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Love_Me_Vol.I)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 8:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-single-or-two-spacer/813835/50 "2018-05-09T08:48:02Z")
> [@stretch](#): > > Two spaces, and fuck all the times I’ve cut and pasted something, only to lose my two spaces and having to edit them back in. One space does not provide the correct visual cue that the sentence has ended. Yes. This. I always use two spaces after before a new sentence and it always looked just right to me but I could never quite explain why. Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Bullitt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bullitt/32/5725_2.png) [@Bullitt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bullitt)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 9:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-single-or-two-spacer/813835/51 "2018-05-09T09:06:05Z")
> [@Little\_Nemo](#): > > I’m assuming I must have learned double spacing back when I took a high school typing class around that same time. It apparently was a common rule back then. > > But I honestly can’t remember being taught this. I single space because it never occurred to me not to single space. If I was ever taught to double space, I had long forgotten it years before I ever owned a computer. It was only a couple of years ago that I heard that double spacing was even a thing that people did. I took typing class around the same time too — mid 1970s. I distinctly remember the teacher telling us to 2-space after sentences. > [@Ponderoid](#): > > It isn’t the board software cutting out the spaces, it’s your own browser and it’s doing it on all webpages you view. It’s part of the HTML standard for how a browser should render things when displaying a proportional font. We’ve had this discussion [before](https://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?p=11584341#post11584341). So I went and quoted **pulykamell** ’s post and sure enough, I see the 10, 2, 6, and 18 spaces in the original, and they’re all rendered as 1 space: > [@pulykamell](#): > > Yes. I assume you are probably on the younger side of the board, like under, I dunno, about 38 or so. Back in the world of typewriters, we were taught to make two spaces after a period, because with typewriters, all the letters took up exactly the same width, so making two spaces after a period helped to break the flow and separate the sentences. With modern word processing and computers, this is unnecessary, as letter widths and spacing are proportional and a space after a period is enough to separate the sentences. And, as I said before, in many cases, double spaces after a period are ignored by software. Like here, for instance. \<-Right there I left ten spaces. It renders as one. Or: > > Following this is one space. One space. > Following this is two spaces. Two spaces. > Following this is six spaces. Six spaces. > Following this is eighteen spaces. Eighteen spaces. > > They all render as one, unless you use the [noparse] > > ```auto > > ``` > > tag[/noparse]. In which case, it goes into a monospaced font, anyway. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 10:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-single-or-two-spacer/813835/52 "2018-05-09T10:05:02Z")
Being 32, I’ve never used a typewriter in anger, but when learning about computers and word processing in school circa 1993, I remember being taught to double space. For years I had Word use this setting, until I read a thread on this board about proportional fonts, since when I have switched to single space. It’s really not a difficult habit to break, IMO. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 10:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-single-or-two-spacer/813835/53 "2018-05-09T10:34:50Z")
Single space. I archive stories for folks and one of the first things I do while prepping a doc to upload to my website is remove all double spaces. ---
**Author:** ![yendis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ed8c4c/32.png) [@yendis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yendis)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 11:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-single-or-two-spacer/813835/54 "2018-05-09T11:08:24Z")
I’m a technical writer so I’ll use whatever the style guide I’m following says. But if I have a choice I use a single space. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 11:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-single-or-two-spacer/813835/55 "2018-05-09T11:58:06Z")
Learned double-spacing in typing class in high school in the late 1980s, eventually the habit. I now go with [a line break after every sentence](https://xkcd.com/1285/). ---
**Author:** ![BlueInfinity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/9e8a1a/32.png) [@BlueInfinity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BlueInfinity)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 12:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-single-or-two-spacer/813835/56 "2018-05-09T12:08:43Z")
Two spaces. Just one looks odd to me. ---
**Author:** ![purplehorseshoe](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/purplehorseshoe/32/2996_2.png) [@purplehorseshoe](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/purplehorseshoe)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 12:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-single-or-two-spacer/813835/57 "2018-05-09T12:12:44Z")
Single space. I’m 37 … guess my teachers were cutting edge! ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 2:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-single-or-two-spacer/813835/58 "2018-05-09T14:01:53Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > I learned double spacing and then heard it was all wrong, and decent folk use a single. So I trained myself to do that. If it changes again I may stock buckets for people to soak their heads in. I was/am a double-spacer and I never bothered to change; if it bugs people so much, they can bloody well edit the document themselves. I like your bucket idea, though. ---
**Author:** ![peedin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peedin/32/14095_2.png) [@peedin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peedin)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-single-or-two-spacer/813835/59 "2018-05-09T14:04:20Z")
Another two spacer, and Oxford comma user. ---
**Author:** ![Morgenstern](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Morgenstern](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Morgenstern)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2018, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-single-or-two-spacer/813835/60 "2018-05-09T14:04:39Z")
Just like boobs, many things look best in pairs. Double space. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-single-or-two-spacer/813835.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-you-a-single-or-two-spacer/813835.md?page=4)