You literally can just long press the normal hyphen on the iOS keyboard, probably similar in Android

So, you saw an em dash in a sentence and immediately screamed “AI!”? Hold up. That long, dramatic line — yeah, that one — has been around way before ChatGPT slid into your DMs. Writers have been using em dashes for centuries to spice things up, create vibes, and break the rules in the coolest way possible.

Here’s the tea: the em dash is a tool, not a tell. Just because an AI uses it doesn’t mean it’s some secret signature. You know who else uses em dashes? Literally every author who’s ever wanted to sound clever, casual, or just a little chaotic.

So next time you spot an em dash, don’t panic. It’s punctuation, not a personality test.

  • Carl [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
    2·
    3 days ago

    real writers use the hyphen - like this - instead because they can’t be bothered to type an actual em dash and they’ve long since disabled any form of auto correct on any program they type into.

    • dave@feddit.ukEnglish
      2·
      3 days ago

      real writers use the hyphen - like this - instead because they can’t be bothered to type an actual em dash

      I think you defined lazy writers, not real writers.

      • Carl [he/him]@hexbear.netEnglish
        1·
        3 days ago

        lazy is real, at least until they train the ais to intentionally not capitalize letters and stuff like that

    • Nacarbac [any]@hexbear.netEnglish
      1·
      3 days ago

      Yeah, the differing use-cases for the various dashes just seems like an anachronism that’s already basically faded away. Like the use of double-spaces, which is just an old typewriter thing… or QWERTY itself, but that’s a pain to overcome.