On 07/31/2016 11:58 PM, Brian Barker wrote:
At 22:38 31/07/2016 -0400, Doug McGarrett wrote:
On 07/31/2016 06:23 PM, Brian Barker wrote:
At 07:36 01/08/2016 +1000, Richard Beeston wrote:
I need to write a thesis and the requirement is to have double line
spacing ...
Second, you should let your institution know that the world no
longer uses typewriters. It is only in typescript that the concept
of double spacing really exists, since it supposes that the printed
output is restricted to discrete vertical positions. There is no
such restriction on commercial printing or even on printed output
produced by word processors - though it is possible to choose that
lines are separated by exactly twice the default spacing, of course.
There is a very good reason for double-spaced text in any document
submitted for publication or for scholarly discussion or grading. In
the case of publication, it allows the editor to make corrections; in
the second instance, it allows the reader and or the professor to
make useful comments on particular portions of the text. In the first
instance, I speak from some small experience as the long-term editor
of a newsletter which runs from 12 to 20 pages per issue, of which
there are 10 per year. Altho I edit on the computer, it is easier to
deal with a double-spaced text as to finding and "repairing" a given
section of the manuscript.
Sorry, but you miss my point; sorry if I wasn't clear. Of course you
are right that it can be convenient to have *extra* space between the
lines of text in a printed document - and the original questioner will
want to provide this, as is required by his institution. But the idea
of *double* spacing in particular is surely a hangover from typewriter
technology, where vertical line positioning was limited to complete
line heights (or sometimes half that). Both commercial printers and
word processors are capable of much finer gradations of spacing.
Commercially printed material sometimes has additional spacing between
lines, called leading (pronounced "ledding" as in Pb and itself a term
that is a hangover from hot-metal technology), but this does not need
to be in whole line heights. A printer may add two-point leading to,
say, ten-point text, and will describe this as printed "ten on twelve
point". Again, word processors allow similar fine choices about
vertical spacing. There are other choices than Double in Writer's
"Line spacing" setting and the effect is very flexible.
I feel that word processor users sometimes think in terms of
typewriter technology, and I took the opportunity to suggest that
wider choices were available here (but then provided the answer
requested, I hope).
(BTW: /Manuscript/ implies that it was written /by hand/ as opposed
to being typed!)
Indeed, from the Latin fourth declension "manus" - hand. But I'm not
sure of your point here. You seem to be suggesting that someone
misused the word "manuscript", but the conversation was not about
manuscripts and you were the only person to introduce the term.
Brian Barker
I won't disagree with you. Yes, you can set up any line spacing you want
in a word processor, but what is commonly
called double spacing, which amounts to skipping a line interval
throughout a document, is a convenient means to
leave space for editing or correcting (by hand, sometimes).
I agree that I brought up the word "manuscript" since something like a
term-paper or a dissertation might frequently
be called by that term, and I thought that the derivation from the Latin
would be of interest. To those interested in
language, it might be noted that "manus" even tho it has a masculine
ending, is feminine, not only in Latin, but in
Italian, (la mano) French, and even in the non-Romance language, German
(die Hand).
--doug
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