How Average Jane Knows She’s Old

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Lately I’ve been wrangling with designers and proofreaders at work over a habit that only someone about my age or older would have: typing two spaces between sentences.

When I learned to type in high school, we used manual typewriters. If you were really lucky, you could use one of the huge IBM Selectric typewriters now and then. Because typewriters produce letters that are equally spaced, the teacher, Mr. Bates (or, as the class clowns found endlessly amusing, Master Bates, ha! ha!), taught us to put two spaces between sentences to make it easier to see the divide.

Little did I know that in 20+ years, this habit would come to signify my advanced age and irritate everyone who handles my copy.

By the time I started working with word processors (WordPerfect for Windows 3.1 – woohoo!), my typing habits were already ingrained. I still type 85+ words per minute, even allowing for the unnecessary spaces.

My wrangling with proofreaders doesn’t stop with the sentence spacing. It turns out I’ve become sentimentally attached to word usage that has now been "modernized" and changed in ways I don’t like. For example, I consider "backyard" an adjective and "back yard" a noun (with adjective sidecar). Not so anymore, apparently. Now "backyard" is the all-purpose word and you don’t get to use "back yard" at all anymore. This makes me feel all pouty.

What about your habits have you realized shows your age in subtle ways?

Comments

20 responses to “How Average Jane Knows She’s Old”

September 14, 2006

blaugra

Yikes – I didn’t realize I was old until I read this — I use the double space too. There, I just did it again. I also cannot bring myself to write things like “im n2 u” or similar code messages punctuated with swirly emoticons.
My worst “feeling old” moment – I was at the grocery store, paying with a debit card. The 16 year-old cashier boy said to the 16 year-old bag boy – “Whoa, lookit that card, it’s totally old school! ha ha!” I realized that my card is 15 years old. I didn’t ask him if it was old school in a good way, or a bad way, but still, I’m considering ordering a new card.

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September 14, 2006

cagey

Um, wait – the 2 space rule is no longer valid? WTF?

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September 14, 2006

Matildakay

Don’t feel bad… I didn’t know the two space ‘typing’ rule had changed either until a couple years ago. Apparently the computer age took care of that old style typewriter spacing problem, but no one thought to inform the ‘typing’ world.
I always feel old when I sing along to Boston songs on the classic rock station at the gym.
I also don’t like using text messaging abbreviations like: imn2u. Dumb! I want to scream can’t you spell?! It takes me forever to figure out what they’re saying and I feel like I’m reading license plates or something.

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September 14, 2006

East Coast Girl

You are not alone. I learned to type back in high school. I taught myself how to type on a computer, and have been using one at work and at home for years. I still edit my work with 2 spaces after sentences. I never knew it was wrong until just recently when I read a similar post on blogging.la recently. I thought it was just an L.A. thing. Now I am starting to see the same argument showing up in other blogs where it is the national standard for copy editors. Who knew? Where was I when that announcement was made? All of a sudden I am feeling really old.

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September 14, 2006

monkey

Wait, are you talking about 2 spaces after a punctuation mark? I still do that, except 1 space after commas. I was taught typing in 6th grade, the first year that they threw out the typewriters and taught on itty-bitty Macs (back when Mac had the educational stranglehold) and I still learned off that rule.

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September 14, 2006

monkey

Also, I have no understanding of internets & text-messaging patois. I can figure out “u” for “you” and “r” for “are” but that’s about it.

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September 15, 2006

Gunfighter

I know that I am aging because as much as I enjoy video games, I get horrendously beaten when I try to play against some teenager when I visit Best Buy or Target.

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September 15, 2006

Kelli

To make you feel better, I do not think I am old (28 is not old) and I learned the two-space-thing as well. (Except I learned on the good ol’ apple computers with the black and green screen!) I still put two spaces between sentences religiously. Jane is not old! 🙂

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September 15, 2006

Jane

I’m glad to hear it isn’t just me on the whole “two spaces” thing.
I also agree with Blaugra and Monkey on the text messaging/IM thing. I may use the occasional emoticon, but I’m not on board with most of the silly shortcuts (except for a perverse fondness for “WTF”).

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September 15, 2006

karendhr

WHAT?? I still type two spaces between sentences. I didn’t think it was wrong now. Is it? Really?
How can “they” change the rules like that.

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September 15, 2006

joaaanna

Same for me. That’s the way I was taught. I also learned on the IBM Selectric, if we were lucky, we got to type on the ANCIENT word processors in the back. I don’t even think that I could type w/o the two spaces at the end. 32 is not old. 32 is not old. 32 is not old. I gotta keep saying this to myself.

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September 15, 2006

Keith

Hi Jane, I too still put an extra space between sentences, but I don’t have anyone I can irritate with it… KP

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September 15, 2006

Dave

Jane,
I can’t believe the 2 space rule could be that bothersome. I’m definitely a child of the PC era (I don’t think I’ve ever even used a typewriter), but I can’t live without the vestigal gap.
The narrator in my head lapses into run-on sentences if I don’t have the gaps there to indicate the proper pause.

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September 15, 2006

Goofy Girl

i know im old because it drives me crazy when people type in all lower case with no punctuation like this. and when they dont use spellcheck.

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September 16, 2006

Suebob

The reason that we don’t put 2 spaces is that it leaves ugly “gutters” of white space in paragraphs of text. It’s a typesetting thing.
My oldness manifests itself in not being able to understand why anyone would 1) get a tattoo 2) get their tender parts waxed and 3) carry a handbag all covered in logos.

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September 16, 2006

Jane

Suebob – I completely agree on your #2 and #3. As for #1, I actually might be inclined to get a tattoo except that I can’t even make up my mind on a bumper sticker, much less something that would be permanently etched in my flesh. See also, ‘pierced nose.’

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September 17, 2006

The Misanthrope

I did know about the two spaces, but I believe e-mail should be hyphenated, but it all keeps evolving and apparently my brain does not.

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September 17, 2006

Huts

I never knew it wasn’t supposed to be 2 spaces. Whatever, it just makes me think that texting is taking over.

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September 19, 2006

monkey

The logo-covered handbags drive me up the wall except I understand the purpose is to show off that you can afford to buy a Coach or Louis Vuitton or whatever.
I’m afraid I am an offender in terms of piercings (nose, bellah), tattoos and getting my ladybits waxed.

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October 2, 2006

Search

I’m also an “oldie but a goodie” and do the 2 space thing. I’ve tried not to but it’s so ingrained (after 20 years of doing something it’s difficult to change). It’s hyphenation that drives me up the wall – somethings are obviously auto-hyphenated and are incorrectly hyphenated and the sub-editor / editor, for whatever reason, doesn’t remove them. Also the word “got” gets on my goat. Why can’t someone “receive” (say, their degree rather than “got” their degree). Hate, hate, hate logoed things. If people want to pay me to advertise their products, fine, otherwise why would I pay to advertise their goods??

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