Re: What's a widow? -Reply

[Peter Gold <pgold -at- NETCOM -dot- COM>]

The last time this thread played itself out, I recall someone pointed out
that both interpretations of "widow" and "orphan" (the line pushed ahead,
the line left behind) are "authoritatively" supported endlessly through
the history of the terms. IOW, cultural metaphors aside, the issue is
whether or not a single line of a paragraph divided by a page break is
acceptable in your style guide.

Peter Gold
pgold -at- netcom -dot- com

On Fri, 13 Sep 1996, Bill Sullivan wrote:

> I don't know if anyone went to the Microsoft Press Computer Dictionary
> (2nd ed.) but it throws gasoline on the fire with the following:

> Orphan.  The first line of a paragraph printed alone at the bottom of
> a page or column of text, or the last line of a paragraph printed
> alone at the top of a page or column.

> Widow.  A single word, a portion of a word, or a few short words left
> on a line by themselves at the end of a paragraph or column of type on
> a page.

> The word "orphan" does not come up when I check the index or do a
> find on the online MS Manual of Style.  When I did a find on "widow,"
> I ended up in an article on indexing.

> Bill Sullivan
> bsullivan -at- deltecpower -dot- com
> San Diego, California

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     Searchable archives located at http://www.documentation.com/
           ALL questions or problems concerning the list
      should go to the listowner, Eric Ray at ejray -at- ionet -dot- net -dot-