zeldman

Abandon the em-dash in your human writing?

The irony—and it’s a big irony—is that real writers use em-dash frequently, and for reasons. As a written signifier of verbal speech pauses, it means something different than what commas and semicolons mean. It connects while separating.

That’s why so many writers use em-dash when it is the best mark for the job. And chatbots use it because they were schooled on millions of writers.

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11:16amWeb
Show threadzeldman16h ago

That this human thing real writers do is now a red flag to readers who mistrust AI is—as I said—ironic. And for editors, it’s frustrating, as it presents a moral conundrum:

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Show threadzeldman16h ago

Replace a well-used em-dash with a comma so suspicious readers won’t mistakenly flag the text as AI-generated? I’ve done it.

Particularly in bulleted lists where every list item includes a em-dash that could work as a colon, or when the writing is fairly dry—and thus potentially triggering for ticked-off hunters of AI signifiers. Le sigh.

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Show threadzeldman15h ago

Afterthought: Ultimately, the best defense is to write well. Write humanly. The closer you make it to that aim, the fewer the folks who will worry about the AI-or-human provenance of your words.

Saved here: https://zeldman.com/2026/03/24/dine-n-em-dash/

Jeffrey Zeldman Presents - Dine ’n em-dash - writing

The best defense is to write humanly.

Jeffrey Zeldman Presents
Show threadiwein15h ago
@zeldman well said! ✌️AI✌️ will never catch up with the evolution of our languages—as long as we keep creatively using all registers of our minds .
Show threadSue14h ago
@zeldman i learned american punctuation in school. then i worked on an online training platform and was instructed to change the content to uk punctuation. now i don't know what i'm doing.
Show threadMichelle Bacon8h ago
@suethepooh @zeldman This is like being Canadian. When installing software we must choose between English (U.S.) and English (UK). With a grimace of resentment, I choose U.S. And gradually forget how to spell correctly.
Show threadErik Vorhes14h ago
@zeldman — well put! The struggle to rise above the slop-infested waters is real, especially when LLMs appropriate some of our handy rhetorical tools.
Show threadErik Vorhes14h ago
@zeldman — also, a pox on LLMs for ruining the “begin with a complementary phatic utterance” trope.
Show threadDavid Peach16h ago

@zeldman ever since I saw an excellent talk by @malarkey on the use of em dashes, en dashes, and even the hairline spaces between, I've loved using them.

I wont give that up for anything. haha.

(im probably miss-using them most of the time though)

Show thread2xfo11h ago

@peach @zeldman @malarkey
Two thoughts on misusing punctuation: 1. Practices establish norms. 2. The function of a system is what it does

Use them wrong long enough and it may become right

Show threadDawid15h ago
@zeldman I stopped using them, even though I really like them. I did that after I was called bot 1 or 2 times, just because of them in my post or comment (don't remember now, but it doesn't matter)
Show threadtrainguyrom14h ago
@zeldman oh shit that's what the em-dash is for! I've always used parentheses but knew it was wrong! Welp, I guess that's a handy nugget of knowledge for 5-10 years from now when AI has passed out of the collective forethought of humanity
Show threadAmber Weinberg12h ago
@zeldman I've replaced my em-dash with a normal dash so people know i'm smart enough to use em-dashes - but it's dumb enough not to be AI since it's the incorrect symbol lol
Show threadcan everything be outside now?10h ago
@zeldman oh I just make sure to include typeos so you know it's not made by the overused spellchecker sometimes called an LLM.
Show threadSzabó Em, Enigma He-Art Director 10h ago
@zeldman the em-dash argument is goofy nonsense and literally "abandon brushes because slop generators make fake paintings". A Logic 101 class at your local community college is enough to poke holes in the "em-dashes are tainted by bots" argument.
Show threadVWestlife5h ago
@zeldman I just type it the old-fashioned way -- and I don't use curly quotes, either.