this post was submitted on 15 Nov 2025
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Ok, what the heck is an em-dash?
There are two types of dashes. One is the "n-dash" (or "en-dash"), which takes up one space, and is most often used to hyphenate words; and the other is the "m-dash" (or "em-dash) which takes up two spaces, and is most often used to bracket off parenthetical information within a sentence, like kind of a lighter weight parentheses. Em-dashes get used a lot in novels and other published writing that is subject to correction from a professional copy editor, but very rarely in the daily typing of regular people. So now when people see it getting used they just assume it must be a clanker.
A slight correction, en-dashes are used mostly to indicate ranges like Mon–Fri. Hyphens are a separate third thing, smaller than an en-dash.
- hyphen
– en-dash
— em-dash
They get their names originally from having the same width as the letter n or m respectively in typesetting (though not all fonts follow that necessarily).
Thank you for this!!!!
Thank you for the synopsis. However;
This is a clanker:
and this is software:
M-dashes are super useful for setting off parentheticals nicely.
You should be able to figure it out—even if you don't know what you're looking for—if you're sent the proper response ;)
Didn’t even use em dashes lol
Lmao fat-fingered my keeb when typing. Edited my original comment. I should have coffee before posting first thing in the morning :)
It's the tell that someone used an LLM to write the response.
That’s absurd. I’ve long used em dashes in writing. It’s not at all a tell. Plenty of people use them.
Plenty = dozen.
Most just use n-dashes. M-dash doesn't even exist on most virtual keyboards.
A lot of software will autocorrect two hyphens into an em-dash, but it's not consistent everywhere.
This is how I've used them. Or I'll just put -- as a place holder and use the replace all function to change them when I finish. Luckily I've never had anyone accuse me of AI writing but it's probably a matter of time. I think the use of em-dash as the "telltale sign" of AI is silly. They're just more often used in research, documentation, and academics which the AI is heavily trained on. Obviously when average reddit Joe uses them frequently it's a bit of a red flag, so the context of the writing is key here. The AI uses it because it is widely and commonly used by humans.
Ok, but what is it and how is it different than a dash?
I was checking out the online reviews of my dad's gastroenterologist the other day. The reviews all contained em-dashes although it was obvious just from the content that they were AI-generated. Dude is full of shit, ironically enough.
What is a search engine?