this post was submitted on 01 Mar 2024
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Science Memes

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submitted 8 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
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[–] [email protected] 110 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (8 children)

No spaces after full stops and random Capitalisation... Fuck I want to like this but I'm angry

[–] [email protected] 83 points 8 months ago (2 children)

They're Scottish, and their language is challenged as it is. Be kind.

[–] [email protected] 11 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

Pffft, if you can write in Scots then basic English punctuation is a no-brainer.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I literally lived in Scotland lmao. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RxAdpQ5-pXA

[–] [email protected] 7 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Is that English?

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago

When I first moved there I had trouble communicating with the person at the hotel, and even now I am not convinced.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

purple burglar alarm

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Scots is English with better words.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Even worse than double space… no space

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago (2 children)

I was taught to double space, didn't realize it wasn't proper. Honestly I think it looks nicer on a page, it delineates sentences more clearly. Apparently it was the standard before computers were a thing, kinda weird that it was the standard where I went to school though.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 8 months ago (3 children)

For a long time I thought the double-space convention was strictly limited to school, since I had never seen a professionally printed book, magazine, or newspaper that used it. I just took a look at my bookshelf and pulled out the oldest book I own (from 1909), and it does indeed use double-spaces.

I just looked it up, and it seems like double-spacing fell out of use in the early-mid 20th century. From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_sentence_spacing :

Before the First World War virtually all English-language books were printed following standard typesetters' spacing rules. By the end of the Second World War most American books and an increasing proportion of English books were printed following the typewriter's English spacing approximation rules.[17] Around this time, the practice of single spacing became more prevalent. There were various circumstances which could have contributed to the change. For example, there was an increase in high-volume low-cost mass-produced printing (e.g., newspapers, pulp novels, magazines). Also, a significant innovation in the typewriter was the breaking of the typewriter "grid" in 1941.

Fun fact: HTML rendering explicitly squashes multiple spaces into one, so if you try to double-space your sentences, it won't display as such in a web browser. This sentence uses double-spaced words, and I'll bet it doesn't look that way to you.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I see the double spaces but it seems like a lot of formatting doesn't work on jerboa.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago

Ah, that makes sense. I just checked my app and it shows the double-spaces too. The web client doesn't, since it's converted to HTML.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Early to mid 20th century??! Dang, double space was seemingly still very much in fashion even after Y2K. Welp, gotta go yell at some kids on my lawn.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

double space was seemingly still very much in fashion even after Y2K

I think this is because it was still promoted by teachers for schoolwork long after it was the norm in professional printing.

I've seen a handful of people in my career write emails in this style, even recently, so it's not totally dead.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I was taught to as well but entering the computer age then taught not to again. Apparently double space was related to the physical limitations somehow for typewriters? I dunno for sure but it is somehow anachronistic.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Part of it is ease of reading. Double spaces simplify things.

As for why manually add spaces on type writers… but not on computers? It’s simple. Fonts can be adaptive. You’ve got monospaced fonts like courtier knew that would show no difference in spacing unless you add a second space, or fonts like Calibri where the font’s spacing is… less fixed.

A (mechanical) type writer can’t adjust the font at will. It strikes the same spot on a page, in what is basically a grid. Same goes for printing press.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago (2 children)

Shit. Now I can't recall if I double space or not. I'm sure I double spaced back when I studied things just for page length.

How long has this been going on?

Lol, it took me a minute to realize I am currently providing myself with the data I wanted. And it looks like my (semi)professional emails are about 50/50, depending if I'm responding.

Is it commonplace to single space after a full stop these days? Thanks!!

Also: that grandpa and his collection are awesome! It's inspiring - not that I'd travel my country (U.S.) to the same extent. Perhaps my state, but there isn't a huge amount of variation, nor do I have the desire to visit some of the areas.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 8 months ago

The double space is a relic from typewriters. It is not appropriate to double space anymore and honestly hasn't been since I learned to type in the early oughts

[–] [email protected] -1 points 8 months ago

I do the double when typing with keyboard but cant be arsed to hit space three times on mobile. I simply prefer the style of the double-space though.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 months ago

I can't forgive the lack of spaces after the full stops, but grandpa is clearly the Lord himself, therefore "He" is the correct capitalisation!

[–] [email protected] 8 points 8 months ago

It's twitter, maybe it's back when there was a 140 character limit, which spaces use up, so removing those spaces can save character limit, so you can finish what you want to say.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 8 months ago

There's one space. It's not even consistent

[–] [email protected] 3 points 8 months ago

The only words capitalized are Scotland and he. Most of the time “He” is the first word of a sentence anyway but in some languages all personal pronouns are capitalized and that’s a common mistake in english.

Fuck the lack of spaces after full stops though.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Harry obviously worships his Grandpa.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

You should join the grammar nazi brotherhood. Being annoyed at petty little things like this is what they do best.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

I don't think I've got the figure for Hugo Boss