I’m an editor. Been one for 27 years. People give me stuff to publish, and I work it over, some people’s stuff more than others. Because it needs it. And that’s what I do. Sometimes I break the rules taught by fuddy-duddy English teachers of years past and present. Like not using complete sentences. Or starting sentences with “and.” Editors follow the rule, “Know the rules so you can violate them wisely.” That is my all-time favorite rule. I like it better than the thing about not ending sentences with prepositions.

So, I kindly fix things in other people’s writing, in an effort to help them communicate better. But some things just drive me nuts when I see them. And the biggest offender is putting two spaces between sentences.

Often, when someone sends me an article or news item or report, one of the first things I do is a search-and-replace to eliminate the two-spaces-between-sentences error. We learned this rule in typing class. Unfortunately, nobody was around at the advent of the computer and proportional type to say, “Okay, you don’t need to do that anymore.” I try my best to educate people on this all the time, but ingrained habits are hard to break. I know, because this is one I broke for myself about 25 years ago, and it was only a few degrees easier than removing your own appendix with a butter knife. Though, having never personally tried the latter, I could be wrong.

This rule didn’t exist before the typewriter, and it only–only–applies to the typewriter. Find me any commercially printed book that uses two spaces, and I don’t care how old a book it is. I dare you. Likewise with magazine articles. It’s always just one space between sentences. The two-spaces rule arose ONLY to apply to typewriters, where every letter takes up the same amount of space, whether it’s an “i” or a “w.” Somebody, with his mind stuck in the moment and no thought to long-term ramifications, decided we should use two spaces to help readers better know when a sentence ends, because readers are too stupid to remember that that’s what a period is all about. And so, a rule was born. And long may it live.

My pastor, who is taking seminary courses right now, told me that for one of his papers, he applied my admonitions and put only one space between sentences. As a result, the professor penalized him for it, marking him down. Even though I’m sure he printed the paper using a proportional-space type like Times Roman, where each letter takes up a different amount of space; the only monospace font on most computers is Courier. This news immediately stained by perception of this finely-reputed, otherwise progressive seminary. I guess things move slowly in academia. If Kate Turabian’s infallible style guide still includes the two-spaces rule, then you better do it, because in educational circles (including my alma mater, at least when I was a student), Kate is a goddess.

I think of the First Century Jews who grew up with hundreds of legalistic rules based on interpretations of Old Testament Scripture. Jesus came along and said, “Those rules are now invalid.” I’ll bet those Jews had a hard time NOT following those rules. Like my Mom, who grew up being told that playing cards, with Kings and Queens and Aces etc., was sinful. She knows it’s a silly rule, but she can’t get herself to hold a deck of cards in her hands (unless it’s Rook or Uno). Probably the same applies to people who now hear that two spaces between sentences is invalid, but they still do it because a high school typing teacher said it’s the law.