3 ms·

Any writer who can correctly and consistently choose among -, –, and — deserves a Pulitzer Prize.

by AStonesThrow 1y ago

mmooss 1y ago
I don't really deserve a Pulitzer, but thanks! :) Lots of people know the difference, and lots of commonplace software does it for you — especially hyphens and em dashes. There was a thread on HN in the last few months. Here's a quick, general guide: * Hyphens join things into one term: sun-bleached * EN dashes create a continuous range between things: Reagan was president 1981–1989; Chicago–Boston flight. * EM dashes create a break between things: What the—?; I was walking — my car was out of gas — when I saw the accident.
- arrowsmith 1y ago
  But realistically, hyphens are used for all three, because that's the only one that can be typed with a single key.
  - AStonesThrow 1y ago
    Unicode and word processors ("desktop publishing") have brought us to the point of being our own typesetters. Talk about losing jobs: in the past, a document could go from a verbal dictation to a scribe taking notes, to an editor for redactions, to be set in movable type, and printed on a press. Now it’s up to one person with a computer to do it all, and our scope and definition of literacy has expanded. Someone writing a manuscript doesn’t have 3 different dashes: they just draw a line, short or long. Typewriters had a hyphen key only. Maybe we can go back to "two spaces after each period".
  - mmooss 1y ago
    But you can see em dashes everywhere (it's harder to distinguish en dashes). As I said above, plenty of software - very popular software such as Microsoft Word and phone keyboards - inserts em dashes automatically or when you type two hyphens. Also, throughout history I doubt everyday people thought about using em, en or hyphen. It's a detail known by professionals, like things professional chefs or coders do that amatuers don't.

3 ms·

Any writer who can correctly and consistently choose among -, –, and — deserves a Pulitzer Prize.

by AStonesThrow 1y ago

Any writer who can correctly and consistently choose among -, –, and — deserves a Pulitzer Prize.

mmooss 1y ago
I don't really deserve a Pulitzer, but thanks! :) Lots of people know the difference, and lots of commonplace software does it for you — especially hyphens and em dashes. There was a thread on HN in the last few months. Here's a quick, general guide: * Hyphens join things into one term: sun-bleached * EN dashes create a continuous range between things: Reagan was president 1981–1989; Chicago–Boston flight. * EM dashes create a break between things: What the—?; I was walking — my car was out of gas — when I saw the accident.
- arrowsmith 1y ago
  But realistically, hyphens are used for all three, because that's the only one that can be typed with a single key.
  - AStonesThrow 1y ago
    Unicode and word processors ("desktop publishing") have brought us to the point of being our own typesetters. Talk about losing jobs: in the past, a document could go from a verbal dictation to a scribe taking notes, to an editor for redactions, to be set in movable type, and printed on a press. Now it’s up to one person with a computer to do it all, and our scope and definition of literacy has expanded. Someone writing a manuscript doesn’t have 3 different dashes: they just draw a line, short or long. Typewriters had a hyphen key only. Maybe we can go back to "two spaces after each period".
  - mmooss 1y ago
    But you can see em dashes everywhere (it's harder to distinguish en dashes). As I said above, plenty of software - very popular software such as Microsoft Word and phone keyboards - inserts em dashes automatically or when you type two hyphens. Also, throughout history I doubt everyday people thought about using em, en or hyphen. It's a detail known by professionals, like things professional chefs or coders do that amatuers don't.