- Klempen
Klempen is a German typographical term for the omission of a space "after" a word or punctuation mark (e.g. comma, full stop, exclamation mark, question mark, dash).
Its counterpart (and derivation) is
Plenken , the incorrect addition of a space "before" punctuation marks.Etymology
"Klempen" is a constructed word from the German "plenken" (meaning "to add inappropriate spaces", itself a borrowing from the English "blank") and "klemmen" ("to wedge", possibly a reference to
Linotype machine operators' slang term "wedges" for the spacebands used to implement justified spacing), exchanging the K and P in such a way as to suggest both phonetically and orthographically its relationship and opposite meaning.Both are internet coinages, dating from Johannes "Jödel" Leckebush's introduction of "plenken" on [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/MausNet MausNet] in 1988 and now widely used on German newsgroups.
Examples
*I am klemping,this makes the text less readable.But well,this is only an example.
*I'm fine,thanks.How are you?Are you still ill?
*Mir geht es gut.Harald,ja doch!Richtig,glaub mir.
*Hier steht ein Punkt.Und gleich noch einer.
*Chinesen dürfen klempen!Wir in Europa leider nicht.
*Nach dem Komma,folgt immer ein Leerzeichen?pecial case: Chinese
In Chinese printing, spaces are omitted after the respective punctuation marks, possibly because Chinese characters are fixed-width. Klempen is thus more common among Chinese typists writing in languages with a Latin alphabet.Fact|date=April 2008
ee also
*German wikipedia's [http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Klempen Klempen]
*Plenken
*French spacing &English spacing - different spacing rulesReferences
* [http://www.dtp-blog.de/typografie/typografische-verbrechen-plenken-und-klempen Typografische Verbrechen: Plenken und Klempen]
* [http://rainer-seitel.onlinehome.de/plenk.html Bedeutung und Herkunft der Wörter Plenk, plenken]
* [http://sockenseite.de/__oneclick_uploads/2006/10/plenken.html Was ist 'Plenken'?]
* [http://www.nia.din.de/cmd?level=tpl-artikel&languageid=de&cmstextid=din5008 DIN 5008, Schreib- und Gestaltungsregeln für die Textverarbeitung]
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