Published Articles

DOUBLESPACE
by Karen Ackland

I like to think I keep up, but I'll never be considered an early adapter. Take, for example, the doublespace after the period. One morning Dan came into my office with a book that explained my PC was not a typewriter. A single space was now sufficient.

Although I admired Dan's encyclopedic interests, I resisted. I felt the longer pause at the conclusion of my sentences showed an attention to detail often overlooked in the workplace. Besides, I could talk and type at the same time, and Dan had the tendency to be a bit nerdy.

Months later Kim stomped into my office. "Will you stop inserting two spaces after periods?" she demanded. "I take them out. You put them in. It is a waste of my time."

There were many things Kim would like to see different about me, and I preferred not to get started. But she was determined. "No one in my generation uses two spaces after the period. You are showing your age"

From that day on I trained my thumbs to stop after a single thrust on the spacebar proving that, even in business, vanity is more motivating than reason.

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