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

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650 points Stratoscope | 2 comments | 27 Mar 25 20:19 UTC | HN request time: 0.463s | 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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alabastervlog ◴[27 Mar 25 21:34 UTC] No.43498460[source]▶
I've been employing em-dashes extensively since I went on a JD Salinger binge circa 2002. Also, "incidentally", for the same reason. I use "Nb" a lot, from reading a bunch of DFW years ago. Oh, and that very-precise construction he does with "which" all the time, I stole that.

Before LLMs, I think em-dashes mostly signaled that you read books and paid attention to details, to the extent they signaled anything.

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1. abyssin ◴[28 Mar 25 08:50 UTC] No.43503041[source]▶
What is this very precise construction?
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2. alabastervlog ◴[28 Mar 25 12:03 UTC] No.43504312[source]▶
Something like, “the monks wore brown habits, which habits were made from wool”.

The slight ambiguity if you don’t do that now irks me, having seen a way to eliminate it.