Date: Sat, 29 Aug 1998 11:49:04 -0600 From: Wes Peters <wes@softweyr.com> To: Anatoly Vorobey <mellon@pobox.com> Cc: freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: American English typography (no longer: make.conf) Message-ID: <35E83F10.1F1B5AF9@softweyr.com> References: <199808290058.RAA20957@apollo.backplane.com> <Pine.BSF.3.96.980828212840.9718F-100000@localhost> <19980829123759.B29560@keltia.freenix.fr> <19980829141614.09323@techunix.technion.ac.il>
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Anatoly Vorobey wrote:
>
> Traditionally, an inter-sentence space was larger in English typography
> than an inter-word space, but not necessarily twice as large; however,
> with typewriters (which were universal
> before computers were invented ;)) this could only be achieved by putting
> _two_ spaces after a period. Nowadays it seems to be not as universal
> as Tim wants to put it ;)
This used to be explicitly required by the standard reference for
typed papers in the USA, the "Chicago Manual of Style." I cannot find
my copy -- I haven't used it in 15 years -- and my "Harbrace College
Handbook, 8th edition" does not address typography explicitly. Each
of the example typewritten papers do use two spaces following each
sentence, however.
When using proportional fonts, the correct typography is to use an
n-space between words and an m-space between sentences, IIRC. I
think MS-Word does this automagically; if you type a second space
following a period, it removes it. I hate it when my computer thinks
it is smarter than me!
--
"Where am I, and what am I doing in this handbasket?"
Wes Peters Softweyr LLC
http://www.softweyr.com/~softweyr wes@softweyr.com
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