Oh, about 6-7 months ago, maybe more, I sent my boss an article from Slate that was very firm in its condemnation of the use of two spaces after a period. I sent it to him because there are a couple of style-related rules that he always follows, one of them being two spaces after a period. Actually, that isn't his most stringent style rule. That is his deeply held belief in the Oxford (or serial) comma. That he demands we use (which I agree with, so it's easy enough to follow). The space thing he lets us young-uns do as we please.
I was not expecting the angry email I got in response. What I had forgotten was that there are certain style items that, well, make people really angry. He was actually upset about the article's tone and that the space issue seems to him to be truly a personal aesthetic choice, not something people should be ridiculed for using. He also apologized later for his response. (Thankfully, it has not affected our relationship.)
The double or single space issue is a hot button issue for many people. I was reminded of this because I have been working on a grant application at work and the text is justified, which drives me nuts. The funky character spacing that results from justified text does not validate the nice squareness of the text. Out of aggravation I tweeted, "1 space, 2 spaces after a period, normally: WHATEVER. When the text is justified, for the love of god, ONLY ONE. #justifiedtextisjustwrong." My friend Heather tweeted back, "Always ONLY ONE SPACE! #yourcomputerisnotatypewriter." See? It brings out ire.
Then my friend Blue Girl and I got in a tweet and email conversation about our personal typographic bête noires. (Full disclosure, as a graphic designer, BeeGee loves justified text. Personally, I like a jagged edged text, but she likes her boxes of text. I have decided to love her all the same.) It started with her sending me this article about fonts and magazine covers, which I enjoyed. Here is our email exchange that ensued.
ME: Ha! I actually loved that article. You know I was a journalism nerd in high school, right? I love page design and am the biggest font nerd! You know what drove me nuts about it? NO CURLY QUOTES. Stupid internet and it's NON-curly quote ways! Speaking of that, recently a co-worker abused the mass email function and sent out this STUPID forward that said this: "Hope you can open these power point pictures that only could be painted by GOD." I was emailing with another co-worker about it. There were 45 "lessons" and really cheesy fading ins and outs. But the thing that annoyed me? NO CURLY QUOTES! GAH! I asked my friend if he thought it was too nerdy a thing to get annoyed with, but it's possible he doesn't know what curly quotes are. (You know what I'm talking about, right?)
BG: Ha-ha! No! What are curly quotes? Like "curly quotes" -- like -- " -- ?
ME: Oh! Maybe I am in some little niche nerdom. Okay, so those are straight quotes. The internet loves them. I hate them. REAL quotation marks (and apostrophes & commas) should have little fat dollops attached to them. See this for more info.
Curly quotes are also known as "smart quotes," if that gives you any indication of the validity in my belief in the curly quote. Here is a good rundown of the typographic limitations of the internet. Blue and I are getting together soon to make dinner, drink wine, live-tweet our adventures, and most likely talk some dirt on grammar. Or politics. Or whatnot. She's pretty awesome. Even with the whole justified text thing. Stay tuned.
Hee hee hee!
You know what is REALLY funny? The project I was working on where I could breathe because FINALLY I was able to justify the text? Well, I had brought in text from a different format into my art files for this project. And everything converted perfectly EXCEPT THE QUOTE MARKS. No joke. The type was all formatted perfectly except the quote marks were straight and not curly quotes like the typeface I had chosen. Why? God only knows. So, I had to go through each page -- 40+ pages to find every quote mark and change them to Bodoni -- manually - so they were correct and curly.
And here's another weird thing. I've gotten THREE proofs on this project. And guess what keeps tripping me up? Why I keep having to correct things? THE QUOTE MARKS! lol I keep missing them!
I think I got them all though.
I think.
This is just too funny, Claire! :)
Posted by: blue girl | August 22, 2011 at 11:08 PM
One clarification, re: "Curly quotes are also known as 'smart quotes,'..."
Not to be too pedantic, but this is not quite correct. Curly quotes are also known as "typographer's quotes".
"Smart quotes" is the name of a software feature -- originally in Microsoft Word, I believe -- which allows you to type "straight" quotes and substitutes left or right curly quotes based on the context. The "smart" bit is the logic that figures out whether a particular quote mark should be a left quote or a right quote.
Posted by: Scocca | August 23, 2011 at 09:32 AM
I think B and I had a discussion about the Slate article not too long ago. She was fine about using one space but found the tone a little untoward.
I know one space makes sense but I can't bring myself to do it. Clinging irrationally to traditions and dogma I learned as a child is very important to me.
In keeping with that, I always use the Oxford comma because my first grade teacher said that was correct way and no one will ever sway me from that belief.
Although, as clearly evidenced herein, I don't really pay much attention to my punctuation or grammer.
Posted by: Julie | August 24, 2011 at 08:24 PM
The most opinionated textual/grammatical conversations I have ever had to referee are always about commas - especially in lists. Do you put a comma after the second to last item on the list or not. Commas make people angry, opinionated, (see some of you are all upset about that comma) and inappropriately in your face. (Folks, just take a deep breath; leave the room or stop reading if it is too much.)
Personally I just want consistency within a document.
Posted by: Elaine | August 25, 2011 at 12:04 AM
The Oxford comma is not optional. It only makes sense. And Elaine is right: I am *very* passionate about that comma. And I also like my two spaces after the period. Also not optional... #grammarhasrulesforareason (Aside: I've never "#" anything before. In the spirit of the moment, I thought I would try something new. Did I do it right? Don't be afraid to be harsh: in writing, I believe in rules! ;)
Posted by: Bird | August 28, 2011 at 12:10 AM
Oh Bird, I'm glad you found this post. It reminded me of that library post from back in the day... anyway, I agree with Elaine. I just want things to be consistent in a document. Really, isn't that the point of grammar? To provide a consistent framework for your thoughts? But I agree with you too, the serial comma is necessary.
You know what has been driving me nuts lately? A co-worker keeps using the phrase "flush out" instead of "flesh out" - gah! Annoys the crap out of me.
Posted by: Claire Helene | August 30, 2011 at 09:19 AM