this post was submitted on 16 Jul 2025
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[–] HEXN3T@lemmy.blahaj.zone 32 points 3 days ago* (last edited 3 days ago) (5 children)

There's a difference between (this—this) and (this--this).

I will always use the latter because I am not bothering with typing allat.

I am not AI. Probably.

[–] psx_crab@lemmy.zip 25 points 3 days ago (1 children)
[–] sugar_in_your_tea@sh.itjust.works 11 points 3 days ago (1 children)

There are three:

  • hyphen - separate parts of compound words
  • n-dash – used for ranges; often replaced by hyphens
  • m-dash — used as a replacement for parentheses or semicolons

In flat text, use two hyphens for the m-dash and one for both hyphens and n-dash.

[–] 30p87@feddit.org 10 points 3 days ago

I use - for all of these

[–] NoneOfUrBusiness@fedia.io 11 points 3 days ago (3 children)

I have a script that turns this -- into this — on my computer, but tbf I'm probably an AI so that tracks.

[–] deo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 1 day ago

what percentage of my body needs to be microplastics to be considered artificial? because we all might be AI

[–] Reyali@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

I use alt+0151 for em dashes and alt+0150 for en dashes, or if I’m in Word or Outlook I use its autocorrect to trigger them (“word - word ” turns into an en dash while “word--word “ turns into an em dash).

But now I’m starting to avoid them. I’m just glad AI hasn’t ruined semicolons yet (especially since I’m using them sometimes to replace em dashes).

Honestly might want to consider stopping using the script now. Double hyphens seems more human, at least for the time being

[–] Mac@mander.xyz 8 points 3 days ago

Speak for yourself.
As a large language model,

[–] 30p87@feddit.org 4 points 3 days ago (1 children)

But why not just use this - this?

[–] HEXN3T@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 2 days ago

I use that for lists. Double hyphen is also more distinct.