Issue 14
Space
Karen Ackland
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Doublespace
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 me change, 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.
~Karen Ackland
Karen Ackland has been published in Quarterly West, PIF,
Salon, and Paumanok Review. To read more of Karen's writing, visit her Website.
© 2003 by Karen Ackland. All Rights Reserved.
© Copyright 2003 by Cayuse Press. All Rights Reserved.