> spans pages 128–34.
Who omits the 1 from the second number?! That is aweful!
How to Use Em Dashes (–), En Dashes (–), and Hyphens (-)
11–20 of 492 posts
Re: How to Use Em Dashes (–), En Dashes (–), and Hyphens (-)
#12AFAIK most computer keyboards don't have em dashes. Rather than hit ALT+0151 every time, I've always just strung along two hyphens, like: -- Absolutely proper and correct use of em dashes, en dashes, and hyphens is, to me, the most obvious tell of the LLM writer. In fact, I think that you can use it to date internet writing in general. For it seems to me that real em dashes were uncommon pre-2022.
On Macs: Hyphen -: - En Dash –: alt - Em Dash —: alt shift -
The default US English Mac keyboard is so extremely good, and has been the way it is for so long, that I remain baffled that other platforms haven't simply copied it. I came to it relatively late in life and it's one of the reasons I wish I'd started using Macs sooner.
Re: How to Use Em Dashes (–), En Dashes (–), and Hyphens (-)
#13AFAIK most computer keyboards don't have em dashes. Rather than hit ALT+0151 every time, I've always just strung along two hyphens, like: -- Absolutely proper and correct use of em dashes, en dashes, and hyphens is, to me, the most obvious tell of the LLM writer. In fact, I think that you can use it to date internet writing in general. For it seems to me that real em dashes were uncommon pre-2022.
I use a compose key on Linux to write those. By default you should have these compositions available: --- → — || --. → –
Re: How to Use Em Dashes (–), En Dashes (–), and Hyphens (-)
#14AFAIK most computer keyboards don't have em dashes. Rather than hit ALT+0151 every time, I've always just strung along two hyphens, like: -- Absolutely proper and correct use of em dashes, en dashes, and hyphens is, to me, the most obvious tell of the LLM writer. In fact, I think that you can use it to date internet writing in general. For it seems to me that real em dashes were uncommon pre-2022.
Em- and en-dashes have been well-supported by LaTeX, the smartypants family of Markdown extensions, and plain HTML for more than 20 years.
In your support, though, calling the extension “smartypants” really hints at the target audience :)
Re: How to Use Em Dashes (–), En Dashes (–), and Hyphens (-)
#15AFAIK most computer keyboards don't have em dashes. Rather than hit ALT+0151 every time, I've always just strung along two hyphens, like: -- Absolutely proper and correct use of em dashes, en dashes, and hyphens is, to me, the most obvious tell of the LLM writer. In fact, I think that you can use it to date internet writing in general. For it seems to me that real em dashes were uncommon pre-2022.
On mac it's very easy to get an em-dash, just alt+shift+`-`. Though I do concur that it's more likely to come from an LLM, I don't think it should be considered a tell — I find it more of a predictor of the writer's age.
Re: How to Use Em Dashes (–), En Dashes (–), and Hyphens (-)
#16AFAIK most computer keyboards don't have em dashes. Rather than hit ALT+0151 every time, I've always just strung along two hyphens, like: -- Absolutely proper and correct use of em dashes, en dashes, and hyphens is, to me, the most obvious tell of the LLM writer. In fact, I think that you can use it to date internet writing in general. For it seems to me that real em dashes were uncommon pre-2022.
In Linux/Xorg with a compose/multi-key one can do:
: "–" U2013 # EN DASH
: "—" U2014 # EM DASH
More in /usr/share/X11/locale/en_US.UTF-8/Compose
Re: How to Use Em Dashes (–), En Dashes (–), and Hyphens (-)
#17AFAIK most computer keyboards don't have em dashes. Rather than hit ALT+0151 every time, I've always just strung along two hyphens, like: -- Absolutely proper and correct use of em dashes, en dashes, and hyphens is, to me, the most obvious tell of the LLM writer. In fact, I think that you can use it to date internet writing in general. For it seems to me that real em dashes were uncommon pre-2022.
I used to intern for a literary magazine and I can confirm that half my copy-editing was enforcing proper use of em-dashes. This was well before 2022.
Re: How to Use Em Dashes (–), En Dashes (–), and Hyphens (-)
#18Dupe— https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=43447819 ( "How to use an en-dash and em-dash correctly?" , 43 comments)
More interestingly it is the same highly niche subject from two different websites in two days. HN is...different
Re: How to Use Em Dashes (–), En Dashes (–), and Hyphens (-)
#19 $ python -m this | grep '--' -Re: How to Use Em Dashes (–), En Dashes (–), and Hyphens (-)
#20I like em dashes and use “Option Shift -” to summon them on macOS. However, LLMs tend to overuse them and compose absurdly long sentences. While proofreading a draft, I often instruct an LLM to “keep the original tone intact and don’t create overly complex sentences by fusing together simple ones.” That usually gets the job done.
Writers adores their em dashes. While they can sometimes clarify a concept by adding more context, overusing them can hurt readability. I prefer to read Hemingway-esque sentences that just say what they want to say and end sharply. So that’s how I write too—and sometimes the overuse of em dashes directly conflicts with that, making the content sound as if the author is confused about what they wanted to convey.