Imperfect

hyphens as dashes

Ava ended how can we (re)teach the importance of privacy? with this:

Sidenote: Should I start taking the difference between hyphens and em dashes seriously? Is it a good time to switch while AI is overusing the em dash? Let me know. I just never cared to select the em dash, as the hyphen was faster.

That reminded me of Valour's The Rise of the Em Dash:

Lately I've been thinking of the em dash. It has been having its moment, like that individual who has just risen out of obscurity. Yes, that small but glaring indicator that the piece of writing may not be yours. I've used the em dash sparingly in my own personal journals/writing. It was never a key piece of punctuation in my writing. But lately, because I've been using AI so much just for asking stupid questions and ruminating through my thoughts, I've started to use more of it in my own personal writing. You know what they say? That the more you read an author, the more you echo their style. I think I'm starting to become not just the writers I read, but also a bit of AI. I'm starting to realise some sentences do sound better with the em dash but I'm also realising that using the actual em dash is a lot of work: 🪟+ . just for the emoji/symbol function to show up, so I've resorted to using the good old -, not because it looks better, but because I'm lazy and also, to show you that these are my ideas - from my very own head, heart, and soul. When I think of my laziness in regards to the em dash, I'm reminded of what Gino D'Acampo once said: "minimum effort, maximum satisfaction". I'm working on more essays. I'm excited to show them to the world, even though mostly no one will read them. But I enjoy knowing that they've come out of my own psyche, and not AI.

This blog of mine isn't beholden to standards which require the proper use of em dashes and en dashes. Thus, hyphens serve as faster, easier, and more habitual an alternative for either dash. By the time I have figured out how to use a dash, using a hyphen instead would have enabled me to continue writing out my ideas. Even then, Valour's experience matches my own: "I've used the em dash sparingly in my own personal journals/writing." Hundreds of posts yielded no complaints for the few times I have used hyphens in place of dashes. With Valour saying "the more you read an author, the more you echo their style" and how much human language AI interfaces and remixes, I'm unconcerned about my writing or ideas being "mine".

As for your writing, either piece of punctuation reads the same to me. Suit yourself.

Want to reach out? Connect with me however you prefer: