3 ms·
> ("--", the old school way of writing it) The old school of writing it in digital documents. Typesetting predates and is not limited to digital documents.
by 1718627440 3mo ago
> ("--", the old school way of writing it)
The old school of writing it in digital documents. Typesetting predates and is not limited to digital documents.
- sarreph 3mo agoGood point, but I think it's a little more complex than that. To my knowledge (and what I meant by "old school"), it was common to type a "--" dash on typewriters[0] because most of them lacked en- and em-dashes, which are obviously not digital documentation devices. But yes, typesetters of old (old, old school!) had myriad glyph blocks available to them for pressing! -- [0] - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typewriter#Typewriter_conventions https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Typewriter#Typewriter_conventi...
- 1718627440 3mo agoOn a typewriter you can write symbols overlapping, so if you write '--' it becomes '–'.
- sarreph 3mo agoSure... But overstriking takes more time and effort, which is why "--" was the convention.