[bug #58500] default value for second parameter to .ss should follow modern typographic convention

[Dave]

Follow-up Comment #11, bug #58500 (project groff):

[comment #10 comment #10:]
> We should probably group and track these sorts of changes so
> they can be queued for a release where we know we want to
> make changes to language defaults.

Sounds reasonable.

> as "Mr. \sN", something for which I fear Ralph Corderoy will
> never forgive me.

Probably you're being tongue-in-cheek, but the change to \s's semantics had a
pretty robust discussion on the mailing list from which a clear consensus
emerged.  If Ralph holds you personally responsible, he's just looking for a
scapegoat.

> It's been much less than 70 years since CMoS reversed itself on this point.

"[B]y 1949, the eleventh edition had adopted the modern standard of a single
multi-purpose space for all punctuation."  -- Heraclitean River
<http://web.archive.org/web/20171217060354/http://www.heracliteanriver.com/?p=324>

> I'll concede the direction of the trend and the timeframe of
> when it started, but I reject any implication that
> single-spacing was the majority view in 1950.

OK, perhaps not the majority by then, but certainly well established.  CMoS is
not exactly quick to let go of convention, holding on to the hyphen in
"e-mail" until just three years ago.

> As a supporter of the syllabifying dieresis, I swear to you
> that some day I shall have my vengeance.

My very first groff bug report (the documentation in those days pointed users
to the bug-groff email list to report bugs) concerns just such a
diaeresis--which at the time I ignorantly called an umlaut:
http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/bug-groff/2011-02/msg00004.html.  I look
forward to seeing what form your vengeance takes.  Let me know if you need an
accomplice.

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