First there was Farhad Manjoo, the Apple fanboi technology columnist for Slate and lots of other places. It increasingly makes me nervous to agree with Manjoo, but in this case…well, definitely overstating the case, but I agree.
As of now: 941 comments!
Some of them, naturally, saying there are more important issues, get a life, whatever.
One thing Manjoo gets absolutely, dare I say inarguably wrong:
He uses two spaces after every period. Which—for the record—is totally, completely, utterly, and inarguably wrong.
I see several hundred comments in that stream making it clear that “inarguably” is laughably erroneous. And countless typing teachers and countable style manuals that emphasize the arguability, at least, of using two periods.
Then there was John Scalzi–who has the ability to be concise (an ability that Farhad Manjoo and certain other idiots seem to lack). Here’s his post, entitled “Farhad Manjoo is Right and I Will Go to This Barricade With Him,” in full:
The vile perniciousness that is the second space after a period. If you do this, you are everything that is wrong and bad in this world. That is all.
Only 88 comments–although, on a comments-per-word-in-original-post basis (a metric that I just created out of that orifice from which most good social science metrics emerge), he’s getting more comments than Manjoo. Well, why not? He’s a much better writer…
And now there’s me. Noting that it’s Friday, and we’re allowed to offer up silly posts on Friday. Heck, if we’re Farhad Manjoo, we even get paid for them.
Quick clarification: The “He uses…” in the quoted material is part of Manjoo’s text. It’s not that Manjoo uses two spaces after each period; that’s what he’s saying about someone else. Who? Not important.
Interesting timing …
http://johnmiedema.ca/2011/01/07/the-double-space-series-of-book-reviews-a-snapshot-of-gen-x/
I think I will go back an re-insert the double spaces in these posts of mine.