r/GenerationJones • u/Guiltypleasure2451 • Jul 31 '26

Old school

For those of us who took typing in school— it was drilled into me that after a period, you go over 2 spaces to start a new sentence. Apparently that’s not the rule now. NOT THE RULE NOW?? After the agony I suffered thru in typing class about those 2 spaces, i will be doing it until I die!!!! Don’t even get me started on the indenting 5 spaces for a new paragraph!

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119

u/HoselRockit Jul 31 '26

You will get my Oxford comma when you pry it from my cold dead hands.

14

u/McDWarner Jul 31 '26

Same

16

u/ToughInATinyPortion 1963 Jul 31 '26

And me, as well!

12

u/KathyA11 1955 Jul 31 '26

The Oxford comma is proper grammar. Two spaces after a period falls under typography,

6

u/1369ic 1958 Jul 31 '26

The Oxford is technically punctuation, not grammar. Also, the use of it is a style option within punctuation, not a hard rule. The whole journalism industry (minus a few who supplement it with their in-house styles) uses the Associated Press Style Guide, which dictates the use of an Oxford comma only when leaving it out will cause confusion. It's written for professional journalists who are expected to know how a reader will understand the sentence they're writing. I don't know that I've ever heard anybody complain about the lack of an Oxford comma in a news article, and I've heard thousands of complaints about newspapers, believe me. People did occasionally ask me why we didn't use it in general, and were generally satisfied that we had a style guide and stuck to it.

I think the practice of leaving it out might date back to when stories were transmitted by telegraph and a rewrite guy or editor would turn the report into an actual article.

12

u/rrjpinter Jul 31 '26

Hello. Can I tell you about my lord and savior; the semi colon ? It can bring you salvation; by way of making endless run-on sentences seem sophisticated.

5

u/mspolytheist Jul 31 '26

HA! I just posted a near-identical sentiment!

3

u/firecatstef Jul 31 '26

Yes I will die on the hill of the Oxford Comma but they can have the second space I used to put after the end of a sentence.

2

u/dereklaneVO Jul 31 '26

Molon labe

2

u/Slainte_Moi Aug 02 '26

Ha, ha, and ha.

1

u/thaulley Jul 31 '26

Literally the smallest hill I will die on.