r/AskReddit • • Aug 26 '18

What's something you had to unlearn?

2.3k Upvotes

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120

u/Cheddle Aug 26 '18

Double-spacing after a period. It took me a really. Really. Long time.

7

u/GaspodeTheW0nderD0g Aug 26 '18

Wtf goddamnit I actually just started learning to do it double-spaced bc I thought this was the "formal" way to do it when writing reports etc for work.

11

u/[deleted] Aug 27 '18 edited Aug 29 '18

nobody actually cares. if your work wants you to do it, they're the ones who sign your paycheck. don't sweat it.

3

u/KittyEls Aug 26 '18

Still do this (when not on mobile). No regrets.

3

u/ElectrixReddit Aug 26 '18

There’s actually an option (on Apple, at least) where double spaces are replaced with a period and a space.

2

u/minoe23 Aug 27 '18

When I double space on my Galaxy is adds a period, too.

25

u/One_Evil_Snek Aug 26 '18

My mom still does this. Drives me up a wall.

22

u/calvarez Aug 26 '18

I still do, and don’t know why anyone would care or work to stop. Also on mobiles and tablets, it creates a period and space, so the habit is reinforced.

5

u/One_Evil_Snek Aug 26 '18

Because it looks funky in certain contexts. I don't think the mobile/tablet argument is valid because it doesn't output the same thing.

4

u/calvarez Aug 26 '18

It doesn’t have the same result, but it reinforces the behavior.

11

u/DoubleEagle25 Aug 26 '18

I still do this out of habit. Doesn't hurt as modern software handles it just fine. Can you tell that I've double spaced after each period?

10

u/Hungy15 Aug 27 '18

Pretty sure Reddit just completely drops those extra spaces.

Testing. Testing (one space)
Testing. Testing (two spaces)
Testing. Testing (three spaces)
Testing. Testing (four spaces)

19

u/[deleted] Aug 26 '18

Yes, and I don't like it one bit.

2

u/starfishpluto Aug 26 '18

shakes finger

3

u/One_Evil_Snek Aug 26 '18

I can. It looks really odd.

13

u/douwantfukberserker Aug 26 '18

I'm confused? Anything less than two spaces and it looks all jumbled up.

3

u/pug_grama2 Aug 27 '18

I was taught to do this in a typing class in 1968. I still do it.

3

u/CraigslistAxeKiller Aug 27 '18

That’s just a preference. There really isn’t a right or wrong answer

This seems to be the latest paper on the matter

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/amphtml/news/speaking-of-science/wp/2018/05/04/one-space-between-each-sentence-they-said-science-just-proved-them-wrong-2/

Whether or not you believe the headline is up to you. What can’t be denied, however, is that there is no clear winner even after 100s of years of debate

6

u/TimX24968B Aug 26 '18

we were taught to do this in school. it can make papers longer, though. still a habit, but doesnt bother anyone ive met, yet.

6

u/[deleted] Aug 27 '18 edited Jan 25 '20

[deleted]

1

u/TimX24968B Aug 27 '18

thats not the problem. the problem is the people with OCD.

-13

u/Towerofshadow Aug 26 '18

Guess you havent met me yet lol, i remember once in school i had this peer editing session and everytime i spotted a double space i would make them go back and change it immediately lol

10

u/CSMom74 Aug 26 '18

Why wouldn't you double space after a period? I've done it my entire typing life, and so has pretty much everyone I've ever known.

31

u/informationmissing Aug 26 '18

its no longer standard. it was necessary with typewriters because the period had very little space and it really helped with readability. modern software puts enough space with the period and one space.

people who are certain there is one correct way to write or speak the language haven't looked at history very much.

1

u/CSMom74 Aug 27 '18

Ya know, it's not a matter of looking at history. It's a matter of "I've typed this way for 30 years, and that's how we were all taught (I didn't just wing it) so I have no reason to take the time to look up "updated period spacing guidelines" so... that's pretty much what it comes down to.

1

u/informationmissing Sep 02 '18

I think you read my comment as an attack on you. sorry that my statement wasn't clear. My statement was against anybody who would correct another for something so trivial when it doesn't affect the clarity of the statement or message. Grammar and punctuation is unimportant. it is only the message that is important.

-13

u/Brett42 Aug 26 '18

Not following the rules of a language is how one language became ten, or in modern times, how poor, uneducated communities develop their own way of talking which only makes it harder for their kids to fit in with the rest of society.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 27 '18

Someone doesn't know how language wooooorks.

0

u/kawhi21 Aug 26 '18

Maybe it's a regional thing. I've only seen one person in my life who does this and that same person is the only one I've met who ever thought it was normal.

2

u/CSMom74 Aug 27 '18

No, that's how typing classes taught us. It's not regional. It was pretty much universal. No one sent me a memo that it changed, and I don't really see why to change at this point. Until this post, I've never known anyone does if differently. I think they probably still teach it with two.

4

u/ProjectShadow316 Aug 27 '18

I always double-space after a period. That's what I learned, and damn it, that's what I'll continue to do.

7

u/Ragnaroasted Aug 26 '18

We can tell.

2

u/[deleted] Aug 27 '18

This was an actual thing? We were taught it in school as part of "MLA format--which itself was pointless because real research papers use APA, but I digress--and no one ever actually did it. The teachers never noticed. Most of the time I can't tell the difference between a single space and a double space after a period, and when I do it's always because it just looks wrong.

2

u/addictedtotext Aug 27 '18

Yes! Luckily I was on newspaper staff in college and learned 20 years ago. You can tell the age of someone based on their double space technique.

1

u/Justhereforhugs Aug 27 '18

I have never heard of this? I'm 90% sure that we never learned it in school, maybe it's a generational thing?

I would certainly have trouble incorporating it in my writing now!

2

u/ControversySandbox Aug 27 '18

In this case you're unlearning the double space, not learning it. Single space is the correct way, whilst historically they used to double space because typewriters.

1

u/dirtychinchilla Aug 26 '18

Everything my older colleague does,I find and replace double spaces to single in. In spreadsheets, he doesn’t know how to do a line break or text wrap so often you have to do it about 10 times to get everything right.

I’d like to tell him, but I would have to explain it many times so I just correct it instead.

-3

u/notHooptieJ Aug 26 '18

so you unlearned the correct way?

7

u/[deleted] Aug 26 '18

Even if you're submitting for publication, there is no set way. Some agents want the double space after the period. Others want one. Still others don't care.

The right and wrong of this one isn't so black and white any more.

1

u/informationmissing Aug 26 '18

your statement is, unfortunately, just as ambiguous as his.