When the Mueller Report was released in April, there was a bit of a kerfuffle going on in certain circles. No, not the dissection of the report and speculation by major media and politicos. This was more of an eyebrow-raising by editors, copyeditors, proofreaders and writers, professional and hobbyist. It seems someone over 40 typed the report. Or so it could be concluded from the evidence: The two spaces after every period.
It raises the question: If you’re a two-spaces-after-the-period person, are you revealing your age or at least your generation? And maybe more importantly, does it matter?
One space as the standard
For those who care a lot about words on the page, two-space style stands out like a sore thumb. As it does to those who were raised on word processing and were taught “keyboarding” not “typing.” Editors will strip out all the extra spaces in writing they receive.
Two spaces were originally de rigueur with the typewriter, to set off each sentence for easier reading. With a typewriter, every space is exactly the same width. Enter digital publishing, in which spacing is more fluid. So, now that we’re creating digital sentences, we only use one space after a period. But not everyone got the memo.
The debate rages
Even now that one space has become the norm, not all agree. Do an online search, and you’ll find plenty of radical two-spacers, who will fight to the end. To settle this “once and for all,” a study was conducted in 2018 by psychology researchers at Skidmore College, because previous study results were contradictory about whether the single period eased reading. The Skidmore study had 60 college students read various texts with two spaces vs. one space, using eye-tracking equipment. Two spaces was deemed easier to read. Did that solve it? Of course not: It unleashed another battle over whether the study’s finding was valid.
Other writing generational “tells”
A few other writing habits may give clues as to age or generation. Use of periods and always full sentences in texts and Slack message—even in brief emails—can be a tip-off to being older. As is use of outdated words or metaphors, such as “taping” a show or “priming the pump.” Other agers on resumes include an aol or hotmail email address or giving your home address.
None of these guffaws are serious. And they may go unnoticed. So why care? When you’re interviewing with an early stage startup or in an industry like tech, it most likely will be heavily staffed by millennials. We all tend to pattern-match. People tend to hire people that look like them, that they connect with. This is also called bias.
To change or not?
At the beginning stage of interviewing, it is smart to eliminate any easy places where you may not seem like a match to the pattern. Once you get farther in, of course, your depth of experience and possibly age will be obvious. But why eliminate yourself early in the process before you get the opportunity to present your full package.
Should you reduce to one space after periods if you haven’t yet? It’s certainly not something to lose sleep over. And it can be tricky to unlearn a decades-long habit. But then, retraining is great exercise for the brain as we age. Which is a whole other subject….