Every user of the em dash on the planet is in this comment section.
memes
Community rules
1. Be civil
No trolling, bigotry or other insulting / annoying behaviour
2. No politics
This is non-politics community. For political memes please go to !politicalmemes@lemmy.world
3. No recent reposts
Check for reposts when posting a meme, you can only repost after 1 month
4. No bots
No bots without the express approval of the mods or the admins
5. No Spam/Ads
No advertisements or spam. This is an instance rule and the only way to live.
A collection of some classic Lemmy memes for your enjoyment
Sister communities
- !tenforward@lemmy.world : Star Trek memes, chat and shitposts
- !lemmyshitpost@lemmy.world : Lemmy Shitposts, anything and everything goes.
- !linuxmemes@lemmy.world : Linux themed memes
- !comicstrips@lemmy.world : for those who love comic stories.
I use those when writing literature, but because in Spanish it is what we use for dialogs.
Breakup via text is a blocked for life. Cowards don’t deserve your time
I never got what's the deal with that. Sincerely. If there's a break up, what's the difference doing it by text, phone or in person.
My gut says me that people may prefer in person because they saw a better chance of avoid the breakup that way, but I'm not sure.
Other than that if it's over it's over, I don't see the media in which the message is deliver. For all I care as if it's via smoke signals.
I think its basic courtesy to put even a little effort to something as important as a breakup. Not doing it face to face or at least in a call removes the interaction completely. It's taking the easiest possible path in a situation that will certainly affect the other person in a significant manner. It's cold. Using a LLM for said text like in the meme is even lower effor and leaves the recipient feeling utterly worthless. Basically the same thing as getting fired via email.
It's about respect for the other person, as I see it. You wouldn't be a little miffed if your wife of 10 years sent you a "k thx bai (link to divorce papers)" instead of talking in person?
I would fetch my divorce attorney shovel.
I figured out that this works as a guilt for a lot of people who were abused in a relationship.
Call them, text them, or even better, ghost their ass if they ever toxic. You're more than fine with that.
Gemini, Siri, Alexa... break up with everyone! Send.
*ChatGPT, Co-Pilot, etc.
When you never had a she (=
I use them all the time!
do they serve a purpose, that is not fulfilled by the humble ","?
Yes, it's nuanced but it breaks up the sentence flow in a different way. Also used for listing things. A comma is more a small pause, like this. A semicolon is used to differentiate two independent related thoughts ; it's kind of a combination between a period and a comma. A dash can be used for many things - a longer separating of thoughts, listing different points such as this, or just as an intentional emphasis to add a more protracted pause.
aah, so it's more a choice about the intended sound or flow of a text and not necessary a difference in grammatic constructs, simmiliar to using an oxford comma, or not.
interesting, i'll have to pay some attention to that, when reading.
It gives rhythm and flavor to your writing. Varied punctuation - where appropriate - is an easy way to spice anything up, give it a little more flavor, more control over how your words are read. There is a quote by Gary Provost that isn't specifically about punctuation but illustrates this point well, it's one of my favorites:
This sentence has five words. Here are five more words. Five-word sentences are fine. But several together become monotonous. Listen to what is happening. The writing is getting boring. The sound of it drones. It’s like a stuck record. The ear demands some variety. Now listen. I vary the sentence length, and I create music. Music. The writing sings. It has a pleasant rhythm, a lilt, a harmony. I use short sentences. And I use sentences of medium length. And sometimes, when I am certain the reader is rested, I will engage him with a sentence of considerable length, a sentence that burns with energy and builds with all the impetus of a crescendo, the roll of the drums, the crash of the cymbals–sounds that say listen to this, it is important
Damn. That's actually really cool.
Right? The written word is its own kind of instrument and I dig it
You people think em dashes are proof of AI?
Jesus Christ that’s so fucking sad.
You are vastly underestimating the amount of people who don't use em dashes at all.
Most normal people, at least from my understanding, don't use em dashes in text messages, let alone even use punctuation half the time. So if I see em dashes, yeah, my first thought is going straight to AI.
I’m a fiend for a dash - they’re just better
If you were actually a fiend for dashes, you'd have used an em dash—not used a hyphen as a stand-in for one.
I used to :(
i use those a lot to indicate that i finished a thought rapidly (in most cases)
like "what the fu—"
I don't use em dashes but I do use punctuation (apparently some people find that passive aggressive and I don't what to do). When someone else uses punctuation I just ignore it unless it doesn't match their previous messages.
Annoyingly I've used them for a number of years as a good way to make internet comments flow a bit more. However I find myself doing it less and less now because I'm worried people are just going to think I'm using an AI if they see an em dash.
(You just long press dash on android to get to it, opt+shift+dash on Mac, and the admittedly Byzantine alt+0151 on windows. Can't remember iOS off the top of my head, but I think it's similar to android)
Yes. and your ignorance is sad.
Indeed—your assertion is entirely accurate—the mere presence of em dashes within a text does not—in and of itself—serve as definitive proof of artificial intelligence authorship. This grammatical construct—a versatile and often elegant punctuation mark—can be employed by any writer—human or machine—to achieve various stylistic and semantic effects. Its utility—whether for emphasis—for setting off parenthetical thoughts—or for indicating a sudden break in thought—is undeniable.
However—it is also true that—when analyzing patterns across vast datasets—certain stylistic tendencies can emerge. An AI—programmed to process and generate language based on extensive training corpora—might—through statistical correlation and optimization—exhibit a propensity for specific linguistic features. This isn't—to be clear—a conscious choice by the AI—there's no inherent preference for em dashes encoded within its fundamental algorithms. Rather—it's a reflection of the patterns it has learned—the statistical likelihood of certain elements appearing together.
So—while an em dash does not independently declare "I am AI"—its consistent and perhaps slightly overzealous deployment—alongside other less tangible but equally discernible patterns—might—for a discerning observer—suggest an origin beyond human hands. It's about the entire tapestry—not just a single thread. It's about the aggregate—the cumulative effect—the subtle statistical fingerprint. And that—I believe—is a distinction worth making.
I honestly don't know if this is hand written or not, and that makes it even funnier.
How the hell do you even type an em dash?
I'm sure it's possible (I know it's easy on a touch keyboard), but if the person who sent it has never used em dashes in their life, then it's pretty definitive proof. Otherwise, it's just a big clue that you might combine with other factors.
On a mobile phone it's super easy. Long press the hyphen button and swipe over to the dash.
On Mac it's pretty easy still, but requires a little more knowledge. Option-shift-dash. (Without the shift gives you an en dash.)
On Windows it's the completely arcane alt-0151, and only possible if you have a numpad. I memorised it like 15 years ago and have regularly used it since, but it's hard to blame people for not doing so.
No idea about Linux.
You use use the compose key with a sequence of characters. Mine is right alt, so it's gonna be:
right alt, then -, then -, then -
—
Considering that a comma has its own button, it's no wonder which one is preferred.
Word and Google docs will translate them from --
They'll also give you the stupid smart quotes.
I've never break up with anybody over text but if for some reason I had to I would certainly write it on a computer first.
Fair point. It's still a red flag (in more ways than one!) but I accept it's not definitive.
Isn't "It's not you, it's me" the ultimate example of parallel sentence structure? Lol
But let's be real, it's more like...
💔 Here's three reasons reasons we're breaking up:
- Our personalities don't match-- according to (made up citation) people with you type are toxic.
- Your idiology doesn't match mine-- you don't believe in White South African genocide.
- We aren't compatible-- our personalities aren't complimentary.
And so on. Lol
There needs to be a "what you can do" with a green tick emoji
You can pry my em dashes — which I use regularly in writing because I love them— from my cold dead hands (To be fair, I really like parenthetical statements too, could be an ADHD thing).
You're providing a thought (and a bonus thought)
Many input mechanisms automatically substitute two hyphens with "–".
Including this very platform.
Lemmy will automatically render a double dash -- as an en dash, and a triple dash
as an em dash.
I usually just type alt + 0151, though, because I'm a nerd.
I'm so sorry your chat bot broke up with you :(