PERSPECTIVE FROM THE 19^TH HOLE:  This is the title I chose for my personal blog, which is meant to give me an outlet for one of my favorite crafts – writing – plus to use an image from my favorite sport, golf.  Out of college, my first job was as a reporter for the Daily Astorian in Astoria, Oregon, and I went on from there to practice writing in all of my professional positions, including as press secretary in Washington, D.C. for a Democrat Congressman from Oregon (Les AuCoin), as an Oregon state government manager in Salem and Portland, as press secretary for Oregon’s last Republican governor (Vic Atiyeh), and as a private sector lobbyist.  This blog also allows me to link another favorite pastime – politics and the art of developing public policy – to what I write.  I could have called this blog “Middle Ground,” for that it what I long for in both politics and golf.  The middle ground is often where the best public policy decisions like.  And it is where you want to be on a golf course.

If anyone needed another indication that I have too much time on my hands during the pandemic, this will seal the deal.

I report that I read and focused on a piece in the Wall Street Journal (WSJ) this morning that focused on a major issue facing us in this country and perhaps even the world.

It is this:

Should there be one space or two spaces between sentences in what we write by one tech device or another?

Definitively, I say two.

See, it was a key issue, right?

I am part of the cabal in this country that believes there always should be two spaces, not one, between sentences.  Since I started composing on a Wang Word Processing System about 30 years ago and, today, on my MAC, I have been committed to the “two space standard.”

Tough to change.  Shouldn’t change.  Won’t change.

In a piece by Duane Daiker, the WS, under this headline, reported on the challenge facing us two-space devotees:

People Who Type Two Spaces After a Period Just Can’t Win

Two-spacers say the extra room after a sentence is easier on the eyes, but the one-spacers keep gaining ground

The story went on – and I quote excerpts to illustrate that great minds – mine and the Wall Street Journal’s — believe this is a crucial issue for our times:

“Ever since computers displaced typewriters, a rift has grown between people who put two spaces after a period and people who put one. Daiker worries he might be on the losing side.

“Daiker, a lawyer in Tampa, Florida, brought Mignon Fogarty, author of the bestselling ‘Grammar Girl’ books, onto his law-themed podcast in March to settle the matter once and for all.  He hoped she would rule in favor of two spaces, as he had been taught in high school.

“Instead, Fogarty predicted that placing two spaces after a period would die out in 10 to 20 years.

“’I’ll have to decide whether or not to leave this on the podcast, right?’ replied Daiker, who is 50, on the recording.

“Two-spacers have fretted for some time they are losing ground to one-spacers who learned to type in the digital age. Jennifer Bell, a 19-year-old student from Columbus, Ohio, summed up the counterargument:  ‘It looks ridiculous.’

“Putting two spaces after a period made sense in the mechanical age, when the letters produced by typewriters were all the same width.  With a single space at the end of a sentence, the page looked a little cramped.  Legal professionals who regularly wade through dense documents loaded with citations are among the loudest proponents.

“A further setback for two-spacers came in April.

“Alan Chen was sitting at home in Denver typing when he noticed something he hadn’t seen before.  The document he was working on flagged as an error the two spaces he customarily leaves after a period.

“’The one spacers have won,’ Chen tweeted.”

Unfortunately, after deeming either one or two spaces as acceptable for years, even Microsoft recently changed the default setting in Word so that two spaces after a period summons the annoying blue squiggle indicating an error.

More from the WSJ:

“Chen’s discovery went viral.  ‘It’s interesting,’ he said.  “You’d think people would have more to worry about during a pandemic.’

“Kirk Gregersen, partner director of program management at Microsoft, acknowledged not all writers will appreciate the stylistic choice.  So Microsoft added the option for users to tweak their settings so that two spaces don’t get flagged.

“Judge Beth Walker, 55 years old, of the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals, said she would change her settings.  She said she is tired of being shamed by millennials who she said insist on rushing from sentence to sentence.

“’I suspect that Microsoft’s latest salvo will only unite the commitment of #TeamTwoSpace,’ she said.  ‘To the extent necessary, I will alter any and all automatic settings they attempt to impose.’”

There might be some consolation for me, Daiker and many other two-spacers, given a prediction that it will take one or two decades for the one-spacers to claim ultimate victory.

We won’t be around to see that sad turn of events.

And, judge me by this – in this blog, I have tried to put two spaces between sentences.  If I failed on an occasion, it was an oversight, not intentional.

 

Rally on two-spacers!