Serious question: is the 'two spaces after a period' thing actually dying or am I just old?

I grew up learning you always put two spaces after a sentence, like my typing teacher in 7th grade drilled that into my brain. But last week I was helping my nephew with a school essay and he called it 'boomer spacing' and said nobody does that anymore. So I looked it up and apparently modern style guides all say one space is fine, even preferred. Now I'm stuck in this weird middle ground where I catch myself doing both in the same email and it looks sloppy. My coworkers at the insurance office here in Des Moines don't seem to care either way, but my boss definitely gave me a side-eye when she saw my double spaces in a client letter. Has anyone else dealt with retraining their muscle memory on this, or do you just let people think you're old school?

2 comments

2 Comments

rivera.jake6d ago

Man, who even cares? It's a space.

lilyb276d ago

Wait, wait, your boss actually side-eyed you for double spacing in a client letter? That is wild to me. I feel like that's the kind of thing you only notice if you're actively looking for it, like who has the time to police that? I'm with you on the muscle memory thing though, my seventh grade teacher Mrs. Patterson would probably haunt me if I only used one space. It's just such a deeply ingrained habit that I'll be halfway through an email before I realize I'm typing like it's 1999 again.