For the grammar police: One space after periods, people
My life is so perfect that today, I got to ranting on Twitter about people still using double spacing after periods. As is always the case when I do that, people pushed back, claiming that TWO spaces was the correct way, and that they hadn't gotten the memo about the rule change.
But they are wrong. It's one space.
Every modern typographer agrees on the one-space rule. It's one of the canonical rules of the profession, in the same way that waiters know that the salad fork goes to the left of the dinner fork and fashion designers know to put men's shirt buttons on the right and women's on the left. Every major style guide—including the Modern Language Association Style Manual and the Chicago Manual of Style—prescribes a single space after a period. (The Publications Manual of the American Psychological Association, used widely in the social sciences, allows for two spaces in draft manuscripts but recommends one space in published work.)
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2013/02/12/1186652/-One-space-after-periods-people
= new reply since forum marked as read
It's hard to quit it when I've been typing that way for decades.
I hope no one's distracted by my spacing and thinks since I'm an idiot nothing I'm typing is important 
I should start hitting return after each sentence. No, I'll try to change my habit I guess, hope I remember.
It is all arbitrary. Typographers make up shit. Modern isn't always better. Know your audience. Know who is publishing you. As a member of the APA, yes, I use two spaces as I am doing here. You want to follow or need to follow MLA or CMS, then do a single-space. Habrace simply says to be consistent. If you are following a modern convention and use a single-space then do so through the entire writing. However, two spaces are just fine as well. As my parents were professors of English and I grew up on the Harbrace, I will follow their advice, thanks.
But get off the holy high horse of bullshit history that never was.
And youre right it looks like someone who just talks on and on and on and on and never really says anything as if theyre paid by the word and who never even really pays a lot of attention about punctuation or spelling like I really get torqued at people who use loose when they mean lose but Im digressing here because I really want to comment on the single space versus double space issue because I too learned to type in the olden days on a manual typewriter that had a sticking "A" key and Id always have to stop mid paper to reach up and flip back all the keys that had clustered together and Id get frustrated and hit the typewriter and that would anger the instructor which is why I only got a "B" even though I could type like greasy lightning except for that damned "A" key but anyway I remember being taught to always use a double-space after a period which I still do if Im using a monospace font but I've broken the habit when using proportional fonts even though I still sometimes have a problem with brevity and staying on subject which is probably something else altogether but anyway Ive now progressed to the point where Im paid for the cogency and accuracy of my statements which probably explains why I haven't made a dime writing anything.
*gasping breath*
So, uh... what were we talking about again? 
It will help you take deeper breaths. Excellent rant, by the way.
Tee hee
My parents made sure that I learned to type on the (at the time) brand new Apple 2 (We even had a giant card in it that expanded the memory to 128k! 
). For that reason I will always use two spaces. If this is wrong on my part, tough $hit. It will be a new way for me to spread chaos upon the face of the earth.
This message has been brought to you by the Brotherhood of Evil Hydrogeologists as we expand our evil to typography.
The most hated font in the world!
We always need more ways to be evil. 
I will not be moved on this score!
Now, if we could only get people to write in complete and coherent sentences, this argument might actually be important...
And I'll probably keep using two spaces because it's what I use on my own word processing files. Helps with astigmatism to have the spaces between sentences.
The paragraphs help to present thoughts instead of doing the insane internet posting thing. Too many lines of text and I give up usually.
My question is, what about those periods at the end of paragraphs or representing snippets online?
I use 3 periods then, and when wanting to show a pause for thought. I see some use 2 or 4. The 4 really bugs me. I wonder if it has a significance?
Here's the obligatory lol cat:
We had to buy some guideline that everyone agreed set the standard on how to do things on punctuation, endnotes, footnotes, etc. I can't remember the name of it. The teacher said that they come out with new guidelines every few years so people have to buy a new one. I learned two spaces after a period and a colon, and I will do that until the day I die!
TlalocW
and I'm too fucking old to change now. Two spaces and be sure to stew long and hard about it. 
Besides, spellcheck says it's ok. Even Firefox says it's ok!
One that gets to the heart of the problem.
along with pitbulls, Olive Garden, breastfeeding, etc.
Happy to help 
eta: I must have fallen asleep in typing class in 1971, because I've always used one space after periods before another sentence and no one has ever corrected me *gasp*
