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Em dashes are amazing

psychotechnology.substack.com

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Re: Em dashes are amazing

#41

Post by brazzy »

ssivark wrote: post #9
jdw64 wrote: post #2

I feel like people only look at the form and ignore the substance of the content. Honestly, as long as the content itself is well written and the em-dash is used correctly, I don't think it really matters. When I first learned about em-dashes, I was told they were a mark of sophisticated, intellectual writing. But now people say they sound like AI. Is that really a bad thing? It's strange to see sophistication become…

> people only look at the form and ignore the substance of the content. This is largely because most people are incapable of thinking critically and evaluating substance. So they regress to indirect markers of good writing, and the whole thing becomes a game of signaling. The rot is so deep, many popular resources on writing focus more on style and presentation than focusing on the substance of writing. And even when…

> This is largely because most people are incapable of thinking critically and evaluating substance.

No, with AI it's because it's MUCH faster than evaluating substance, and fast ways to weed out AI slop are desparately needed, since it can be produced so quickly.

Re: Em dashes are amazing

#42

Post by pteraspidomorph »

moron4hire wrote: post #14

It's interesting that an article extoling the virtues of the em-dash isn't using them correctly. They don't get spaces around them.

It's a stylistic choice. Here's an analysis, complete with a link back to an old HN discussion:

https://www.pbjstories.com/blog/spaces-around-em-dash

I beta read for a popular american author and they started using spaces too.

Re: Em dashes are amazing

#43

Post by vova_hn2 »

> But also, maybe consider not giving a fuck about what someone on the internet think?

If I'm writing something, typically I want to share my thoughts with other people and get their feedback. It won't work if they dismiss my writing because of some superficial stylistic choice, without even trying to engage with the ideas that I'm trying to express.

Re: Em dashes are amazing

#44

Post by weli »

moron4hire wrote: post #14

It's interesting that an article extoling the virtues of the em-dash isn't using them correctly. They don't get spaces around them.

Isn't english known for not having an official set of gramatical rules? There are conventions and rules from universities i.e Cambridge vs Oxford comma. But there is no single body that is commonly accepted by all english-speaking countries to be codifying the official rules of the language.

Re: Em dashes are amazing

#47

Post by neuroticnews25 »

john_strinlai wrote: post #13

i typically enjoy a good profanity-laden rant, but something about this particular one feels very forced. this sentence, for example: "[...] What if someone points one out in my writing?”. Bitch, please." . i cant really put my finger on why, but it almost feels like the author wrote their rant, then came back afterwards with a quota of fuck/shit/bitch they wanted to meet, placing them wherever they could. in any cas…

>you would be unintelligible if you rigorously avoided them all

You could write naturally and then let an LLM translate avoiding the 1000 words, with verification harness or maybe a custom sampler.

Re: Em dashes are amazing

#48

Post by thfuran »

pohl wrote: post #28
koolala wrote: post #12

Test: 'There is no greater joy in life than typing a sentence, realising it needs a clarification, a caveat, an addendum, but in the same sentence, not a new one, and, guess what, the comma is right there for you. You want to package things neatly together, and the comma lets you do exactly this. Commas make writing feel like you are assembling lego bricks.' I like using commas for spacing though em dashes do the sam…

Your first sentence is a perfect example of why emdashes need to exist. The comma is overloaded, since it can be used both as a list separator and for parenthetical asides. But that first sentence starts using them as a list separator, and then inserts a parenthetical aside into the list. Emdash wins this test.

I think parenthesis are ideal for a parenthetical aside.

Re: Em dashes are amazing

#49

Post by ryukoposting »

This post is so self-consciously dependent on inserting em dashes everywhere that it kinda supports its own counterargument. If you're going to make a case for em dashes enabling more fluid writing and more distinctive voice, then you ought to actually use them that way.
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