Ændrew Rininsland

HEY KIDS! IT'S TIME FOR ANOTHER EXCITING EPISODE OF **KNOW YOUR DASHES**!!!

This is a "m-dash" — it's kinda long! You use it to separate thoughts, kinda like I did just now! It's called that, because it's as wide as the "m" character!

This here is a "n-dash": "–" you use it to separate dates like "2003–14"!

"-" is a hyphen! You use it to separate compound words that come before a noun, like "state-of-the-art waterbuffalo"!

"--" is two hyphens. IF YOU USE THIS YOU ARE A COMPLETE, UTTER FOOL.

Apr 16, 2017 at 5:00pmWeb
Show threadÆndrew RininslandApr 16, 2017
(I say all this not to take a dig at anyone here but because the CMS I'm working with seems to have replaced an *entire textbook's* worth of m-dashes with double-hyphens and I want to seriously facepunch somebody.)
Show threadÆndrew RininslandApr 16, 2017

Bonus content given this is probably somehow my most visible toot at the minute:

• alt + shift + hyphen (on macOS) = m-dash! (—)
• alt + hyphen (on macOS) = n-dash! (–)
• alt + hyphen x 2 = two n-dashes! (––, but srsly this is like twice as dumb as double-hyphen wat r u doiinnng?!)

Show threadtom hApr 16, 2017
@aendrew If it was written by an academic they might have been expecting two hyphens to be typeset as an en-dash. LaTeX does this (and three hyphens is typeset as an em-ash)
Show threadÆndrew RininslandApr 16, 2017
@tomharris Interesting... Well, it was properly typeset before, and now it is not, and I think I have my publisher's goddawful WordPress-based editing platform to thank for that. 😭
Show threadÆndrew RininslandApr 16, 2017
@tomharris Also the PDF proofs I've been sent all have double-hyphens, so I seriously worry there isn't another typesetting stage where that's corrected. I'd give my left nut to use LaTeX at this point...
Show threadtom hApr 16, 2017
@aendrew in my experience proofreaders go nuts over en-dashes, so they should get corrected if you have a proofs stage
Show threadÆndrew RininslandApr 16, 2017
@tomharris Eh, am hoping... Have asked for clarity from my editors, though it's definitely not a LaTeX thing because each occurrence is definitely supposed to be a m- and not n-dash.
Show threadJoseph HallApr 16, 2017
@aendrew Very true--I coudn't agree more.
Show threadChris Silverman 🌻Apr 16, 2017

@aendrew I've had to explain this—politely—to people whose day
job is writing.

My day job is a designer/web dev/site manager. Sometimes I quietly correct these errors in the articles I'm given to post online.

Show threadꙮ jumblesale ꙮApr 16, 2017
@aendrew this was a real helpful toot
Show threadAlvinApr 16, 2017
@aendrew man, I've been typing date the wrong way since *at least* 2010
Show threadNeonApr 16, 2017

@aendrew Fun fact I think is a fact because I think I heard it in school a few months ago: "--" is used to cut off quotes in Finnish. Eg. "Hey kids! It's time for--"

Weird how these things are language specific, even though they feel so language-independent.

Show threadold hazelApr 16, 2017
@aendrew em-dashes are HOT
Show threaddan (not wintier)Apr 16, 2017
@aendrew TIL. How would I go about typing these on a standard American keyboard?
Show thread 🌒 𐌸𐌿𐍃𐍈𐌼𐌽𐍈𐌼𐌳𐌿𐍉𐌻𐌺Apr 16, 2017
@aendrew but -- and you won't believe this but it's true -- i'm a fool for you, babe
Show threadGadfly (-booq-)Apr 16, 2017

@aendrew @boots

Fun Fact™: I once got (platonicly???) negged during an internet argument over my ~incorrect usage of dashes~.

Show threadthezerobit ☭🌹Apr 16, 2017
@aendrew 🙄