SegfaultSeagullI Love the Em Dash–Too Bad If AI Does Too
https://thewalrus.ca/i-love-the-em-dash-too-bad-if-ai-does-too/
Use an en-dash instead. – is slightly shorter than — so in–between words of—a–similar nature, you can look stylishly not–a–robot.
The en-dash is for ranges. https://practicaltypography.com/hyphens-and-dashes.html
Or British English.
The Oxford style guide page 18 https://www.ox.ac.uk/public-affairs/style-guide
> m-dash (—)
> Do not use; use an n-dash instead.
> n-dash (–)
> Use in a pair in place of round brackets or commas, surrounded by spaces.
I feel a number of people online started using something like the "British style", as an ascii hyphen is closer to an n-dash than an m-dash in width. And then without spaces either side looks very squished.
I concur — having added it as a third level symbol (AltGr + dash for em-dash, AltGr + Shift + dash for en-dash) to a default layout for Linux in early 2000s, it has become my signature of sorts.
If I am to be called out as an LLM, at least I can lay a claim I've been one for 20 years!
I do eschew one tradition surrounding it — the one of using no spaces around it — despite recommendations of different Manuals of Style and typographic norms. It simply looks better with more breathing room.
Would you put spaces around parentheses?
It would look ( to most people ) very strange.