4 ms·

I'm incredibly happy that the em dash is gaining the attention it deserves. However, if honest—I am also a little upset that the good people the comments sectio

by lwhi 9y ago

I'm incredibly happy that the em dash is gaining the attention it deserves. However, if honest—I am also a little upset that the good people the comments section are tending towards placing white-space around each dash and the text it forms an abutment with. This space is not needed.

Symbiote 9y ago
The space is conventional in Britain. Without the space looks strange to me. (Android users — try long pressing the - key in the punctuation menu.)
- lwhi 9y ago
  I disagree [1]; pick up a book that's been typeset, and look for an em dash. I doubt you'll see any spaces. [1] https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/grammar/dash-and-em-dash https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/grammar/dash-and-em-dash
  - Symbiote 9y ago
    When the dash (whatever type) is used to separate parts of a sentence, in British use there will be spaces either side. If Oxford is the exception, then I'm not surprised – they're the exception to many British writing styles. Admittedly, these examples look closer to en than em length. From some books and a magazine on my table: https://imgur.com/a/GNl2p https://imgur.com/a/GNl2p
    - deleted 9y ago
      [deleted]
- jfk13 9y ago
  In my opinion — and let's face it, much of this is just a matter of opinion! — a normal space is too much. Try thin space (U+2009) for a more subtle effect. (The exact result may depend on your font, however.)
  - rgossiaux 9y ago
    This was the typographical choice that Medium landed on for their rich text editor as well
  - lwhi 9y ago
    I agree; it is down to opinion. I'd like to make use of the thin-space — but it doesn't make much difference in the typeface I'm using to write this reply.
xentronium 9y ago
Depends on typography traditions. In Russian, em-dash in the middle of a sentence is always typeset with short spaces. We also rarely use en-dashes (I think there are maybe two cases when it is allowed: in date ranges like 1940–1945 and as a bullet point in lists).
restuijs 9y ago
Your own comment to me illustrates why some sort of space is better. In fact, I can't tell if you're being ironic or not. Your post is difficult to read because the em dash looks the same as the hyphen later in the post. The argument that clinches it for me is editing. If you use an em dash with most word processing programs, you will consistently run into problems with the dash and surrounding text being treated as single words. You could reprogram things to recognize em dashes in those scenarios, but the standard behavior exists because of the way the vast majority of people perceive text. Personally, I think the solution is a thin space, or to drop em dashes in favor of en dashes or something. I use em dashes frequently, and these issues are frustrating to me. It's also frustrating translating them to plain text.

by lwhi 9y ago

Symbiote 9y ago

The space is conventional in Britain. Without the space looks strange to me. (Android users — try long pressing the - key in the punctuation menu.)

lwhi 9y ago
I disagree [1]; pick up a book that's been typeset, and look for an em dash. I doubt you'll see any spaces. [1] https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/grammar/dash-and-em-dash https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/grammar/dash-and-em-dash
- Symbiote 9y ago
  When the dash (whatever type) is used to separate parts of a sentence, in British use there will be spaces either side. If Oxford is the exception, then I'm not surprised – they're the exception to many British writing styles. Admittedly, these examples look closer to en than em length. From some books and a magazine on my table: https://imgur.com/a/GNl2p https://imgur.com/a/GNl2p
  - deleted 9y ago
    [deleted]
jfk13 9y ago
In my opinion — and let's face it, much of this is just a matter of opinion! — a normal space is too much. Try thin space (U+2009) for a more subtle effect. (The exact result may depend on your font, however.)
- rgossiaux 9y ago
  This was the typographical choice that Medium landed on for their rich text editor as well
- lwhi 9y ago
  I agree; it is down to opinion. I'd like to make use of the thin-space — but it doesn't make much difference in the typeface I'm using to write this reply.

xentronium 9y ago

Depends on typography traditions. In Russian, em-dash in the middle of a sentence is always typeset with short spaces. We also rarely use en-dashes (I think there are maybe two cases when it is allowed: in date ranges like 1940–1945 and as a bullet point in lists).

restuijs 9y ago

Your own comment to me illustrates why some sort of space is better. In fact, I can't tell if you're being ironic or not. Your post is difficult to read because the em dash looks the same as the hyphen later in the post. The argument that clinches it for me is editing. If you use an em dash with most word processing programs, you will consistently run into problems with the dash and surrounding text being treated as single words. You could reprogram things to recognize em dashes in those scenarios, but the standard behavior exists because of the way the vast majority of people perceive text. Personally, I think the solution is a thin space, or to drop em dashes in favor of en dashes or something. I use em dashes frequently, and these issues are frustrating to me. It's also frustrating translating them to plain text.