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

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650 points Stratoscope | 3 comments | 27 Mar 25 20:19 UTC | HN request time: 0s | source
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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.

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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.
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1. citrus1330 ◴[28 Mar 25 01:18 UTC] No.43500316[source]▶
No, it's not. AI uses em dashes far more frequently than the average human.
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2. Kiro ◴[28 Mar 25 07:57 UTC] No.43502707[source]▶
Why is this getting downvoted? ChatGPT is completely obsessed with em dashes. I don't even know how to make it on my keyboard.
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3. bangaladore ◴[28 Mar 25 14:00 UTC] No.43505534[source]▶
Yeah, people are saying "well you didn't know about em dashes before LLMs".

No, I learned about em dashes in school, I just literally don't know how to type them on my keyboard and I'm too stubborn to learn how to.