Microsoft Word Now Considers 2 Spaces After Period an Error, Ending the Debate

A debate regarding whether or not you should put two spaces after your period (because typewriters) has been dismissed by a new error flag on the platform.

Go ahead and ride your horse and buggy on the highway, but don't expect sympathy from the police. The same goes for putting two spaces after a period. Sure, you can tap that bar twice like you did in the typewriter days, but Microsoft will no longer have it. The technology company recently started flagging the error (ha ha) on the desktop version of Microsoft Word. 

First of all, If you're a Microsoft-era baby who has no idea what debate I'm talking about, just know that typewriters used to produce "monospaced" fonts, meaning each letter was given 𝚊 𝚋𝚕𝚘𝚌𝚔 𝚘𝚏 𝚝𝚑𝚎 𝚜𝚊𝚖𝚎 𝚜𝚒𝚣𝚎, and more space was necessary to indicate the beginning of a sentence. That isn't the case anymore, so the technique has been rendered useless. 

But the human species is resistant to change; Some people still use the double space and start debates about it. Their opposition says, hey, life isn't a classic film on the Criterion channel anymore, and we have fancy technology that makes fonts proportional and sentences more distinguished. Microsoft agrees, but feels a little bad about it. 

“As the crux of the great spacing debate, we know this is a stylistic choice that may not be the preference for all writers," Kirk Gregersen, a partner director of program management at Microsoft, told The Verge. "Which is why we continue to test with users and enable these suggestions to be easily accepted, ignored, or flat out dismissed in Editor." 

Similarly, both the Modern Language Association Style Manual and theAmerican Psychological Association express their preference for one space but openness to two if it is required by a superior. So it seems the one-spacers are in a never-ended standoff with traditionalists, whom I would just ask to look inward. I ask them to be honest with themselves.  Is this really better?  For society? For the tired thumbs of your children? 

h/t The Verge

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Ruby Anderson is a News Writer for Thrillist. Send your tips to randerson@thrillist.com.