←back to thread

How to Use Em Dashes (–), En Dashes (–), and Hyphens (-)

(www.merriam-webster.com)
650 points Stratoscope | 1 comments | 27 Mar 25 20:19 UTC | HN request time: 0.199s | source
Show context
bangaladore ◴[27 Mar 25 21:08 UTC] No.43498204[source]▶
Somewhat off topic, however, I'm thoroughly convinced that there is a very high probability something is AI generated when I see Em dashes. Anyone else noticing this?

ChatGPT for example almost always uses them. I'm sure they are more common in academic writing, but its now super common on boards like Reddit.

replies(16): >>43498232 #>>43498258 #>>43498296 #>>43498336 #>>43498392 #>>43498459 #>>43498460 #>>43498586 #>>43499014 #>>43499676 #>>43501296 #>>43507220 #>>43507432 #>>43507690 #>>43508321 #>>43518717 #
pavlov ◴[27 Mar 25 21:13 UTC] No.43498258[source]▶
It’s largely the Baader-Meinhof phenomenon. You’ve started noticing it because you just learned about it.
replies(5): >>43498300 #>>43499274 #>>43500316 #>>43500811 #>>43508168 #
dkdcwashere ◴[27 Mar 25 21:18 UTC] No.43498300[source]▶
yep. been using them for years. others have too. it’s not weird

same thing happened with “delve” — these are just words and grammar, people use them

there is no accurate way to tell whether text came out of a neural network or not

replies(3): >>43498463 #>>43498528 #>>43498555 #
1. kingo55 ◴[27 Mar 25 21:43 UTC] No.43498528[source]▶
Combining the various "tells" of an LLM (em dashes, delve, grammatical signs etc) with the context (Reddit comments vs professional setting), you could establish a rough probability it was AI generated. At this point, it's the best we can hope for.