# What's with the spacebar? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 8, 2003, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spacebar/193738 "2003-08-08T02:35:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spacebar/193738/1 "2003-08-08T02:35:16Z")
Look down on your keyboard. Look at all the keys. Now look at the spacebar. It’s not labelled. Why? Even the enter and shift and all those other keys are labelled. Not the spacebar. Why? Is there some reason why it’s not labelled or did they just get lazy and decide not to. On a side note, just for the sake of fairness, I took out a sharpie and wrote “Space Bar” on mine. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 2:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spacebar/193738/2 "2003-08-08T02:39:32Z")
Well, the character it reperesents is invisible, a non-character, a _space_ Shift and enter sort of reperesent actions, so require labeling (enter also reperesents characters - ‘carriage-return’ and ‘line-feed’) ---
**Author:** ![kirk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/f9ae1b/32.png) [@kirk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kirk)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spacebar/193738/3 "2003-08-08T02:40:28Z")
But it is labeled. It has a space on it. ---
**Author:** ![Lobsang](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobsang/32/4067_2.png) [@Lobsang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lobsang)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spacebar/193738/4 "2003-08-08T02:42:25Z")
Also - in the days of typewriters - shift and return were not keys, they were levers, so when they ‘became’ keys they needed names. ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spacebar/193738/5 "2003-08-08T02:58:11Z")
IMHO, it’s hard to mix up the space _bar_ with any other key. ---
**Author:** ![Purd\_Werfect](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e47c2d/32.png) [@Purd\_Werfect](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Purd_Werfect)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 3:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spacebar/193738/6 "2003-08-08T03:08:44Z")
It’s a religious mandate. That’s why you often see it written as Sp\*\*\*\*ar, as it would be sacreligious to spell out it’s glorious name in an otherwise trivial setting. ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spacebar/193738/7 "2003-08-08T03:12:52Z")
Kind of like pl\*co in the fishkeeping community? 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Electronic\_Chaos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bbe5ce/32.png) [@Electronic\_Chaos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Electronic_Chaos)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 3:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spacebar/193738/8 "2003-08-08T03:24:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Nanoda \* > \*\*IMHO, it’s hard to mix up the space _bar_ with any other key. \*\* And it’s kinda hard to mix up the enter and any other key, but it’s labeled. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spacebar/193738/9 "2003-08-08T03:34:45Z")
But why is it so doggone huge? ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spacebar/193738/10 "2003-08-08T03:35:57Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by xgxlx \* > \*\*Look down on your keyboard. Look at all the keys. Now look at the spacebar. It’s not labelled. Why? Even the enter and shift and all those other keys are labelled. Not the spacebar. Why? \*\* Naturally only one key can be unlabelled, which other one would you choose instead? I guess I don’t understand what it is you find so mysterious about this. ---
**Author:** ![cw](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/71c47a/32.png) [@cw](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cw)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spacebar/193738/11 "2003-08-08T04:06:39Z")
Why would you wonder about this is my question. Why not ask what the tilde (~) is suppose to be? ---
**Author:** ![jojothecannibal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/48db29/32.png) [@jojothecannibal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jojothecannibal)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 4:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spacebar/193738/12 "2003-08-08T04:13:41Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GuanoLad \* > \*\*But why is it so doggone huge? \*\* So it can be reached by one’s thumb when one’s hand is ANYWHERE over the keyboard. It is, after all, the most used button (I think). ---
**Author:** ![biqu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7feea3/32.png) [@biqu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/biqu)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spacebar/193738/13 "2003-08-08T04:16:07Z")
> [@](#): > > _Originally posted by cw_ > Why not ask what the tilde (~) is suppose to be? Here you go: [The History of the Tilde](http://diveintomark.org/archives/2002/10/04/history_of_the_tilde). ---
**Author:** ![TJdude825](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dec6dc/32.png) [@TJdude825](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TJdude825)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spacebar/193738/14 "2003-08-08T04:25:53Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by jojothecannibal \* > \*\*It is, after all, the most used button (I think). \*\* Au contraire! Backspace is certainly used more (at least by me)! ---
**Author:** ![Cervaise](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cervaise/32/16693_2.png) [@Cervaise](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cervaise)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spacebar/193738/15 "2003-08-08T05:53:32Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by amore ac studio \* > \*\*Here you go: [The History of the Tilde](http://diveintomark.org/archives/2002/10/04/history_of_the_tilde). \*\* 😃 😃 😃 😃 😃 ---
**Author:** ![postcards](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8e8cbc/32.png) [@postcards](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/postcards)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spacebar/193738/16 "2003-08-08T13:44:39Z")
> [@](#): > > …I took out a sharpie and wrote “Space Bar” on mine. The mind bobbles at what other items in your home you’ve labelled… ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 3:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spacebar/193738/17 "2003-08-08T15:10:50Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by GuanoLad \* > \*\*But why is it so doggone huge? \*\* Viagra. Oh, yeah, and the thumb thing, too. ---
**Author:** ![Gangster\_Octopus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a8b319/32.png) [@Gangster\_Octopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gangster_Octopus)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spacebar/193738/18 "2003-08-08T15:15:19Z")
Whichkeyisthespacebar? ---
**Author:** ![Trigonal\_Planar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/0ea827/32.png) [@Trigonal\_Planar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Trigonal_Planar)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spacebar/193738/19 "2003-08-08T16:32:38Z")
Maybe I’m crazy but I swear I’ve seen keyboards with the spacebar labelled “SPACE”. ---
**Author:** ![tanstaafl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ba8739/32.png) [@tanstaafl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tanstaafl)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2003, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spacebar/193738/20 "2003-08-08T16:47:22Z")
And all this time I thought it was the “any” key… 🙂 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-with-the-spacebar/193738.md?page=2)