Emdash fans!
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@mcc oh— this doesn't look good for me...
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@mcc@mastodon.social absolutely — they just look nicer that way.
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@mcc oh— this doesn't look good for me...
@vn i share your concern
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@mcc It's complicated. In plain text I use two hyphens with spaces around them -- like this. When I do proper typesetting, no spaces—like this.
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@mcc @mayintoronto I think em-dash with no spaces is insane, given what it's supposed to do: create a long pause.
Why drag the words together while creating a pause? Give it some air!
And, It's supposed to be a longer pause than n-dash, right? But when you omit the spaces, it's actually shorter!
Anyway, I don't use it. When I want a long payse, I use " … " .
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@mcc Chicago Manual of Style (my preferred guide) has no spaces around em dashes, for example from 6.91:
> She outlined the strategy—a strategy that would, she hoped, secure the peace.
> My friends—that is, my former friends—ganged up on me.
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@mcc@mastodon.social yes — i use hair space
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@mcc I do both sides, usually. I don't when using it to show abrupt changes in something's flow, like conversation interruptions or surprises, ect.
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@mcc@mastodon.social yes — i use hair space
@xarvos advanced strats
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@mcc
Normally they belong on both sides. *However*, if the em dash represents interruption in mid-word, you only use a space afterward, not on both sides.Oh, and for those who want to back things up with a style guide? Spaces on both sides is Associated Press style.
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@mcc ummmm… you forgot ―much to my chagrin― one other option.
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@mcc ummmm… you forgot ―much to my chagrin― one other option.
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@mcc Voted yes — on both sides — but it's slightly more complicated. When using an em-dash as an interjection, I only add spaces to the right, but when I use em-dashes to denote parenthetical clauses, I use spaces on either side.
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@mcc indeed
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@mcc I didn't realize I was such an avid em-dash user until I implemented my static site code and had to add a special rule in thr markdown compiler to turn "--" into an em-dash.
I have no idea how to actually write an em-dash outside of my work email's WYSIWYG editor which auto converts the dashes...
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@mcc I don't use spaces, because Chicago, but that works best when you have a nice, long emdash. If you're making do with two endashes, adding spaces makes sense.
Also, one of my typographical pet peeves is an emdash at the start of a line.
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The latest episode of the 99% Invisible podcast is all about the emdash. Check it out:
https://99percentinvisible.org/episode/658-the-em-dash/ -
@mcc I was reading some UK source the other day that called the habit of placing spaces on either side an abominable Americanization. Or maybe it was the other way round. My actual preference is spaced en dashes where em dashes are called for, and unspaced en dashes where en dashes are most commonly used: to indicate a numeric range. That sounds weird but it doesn’t look weird imo. And I feel like different typefaces treat em dashes differently!
