this post was submitted on 25 Apr 2025
74 points (100.0% liked)

chat

8380 readers
377 users here now

Chat is a text only community for casual conversation, please keep shitposting to the absolute minimum. This is intended to be a separate space from c/chapotraphouse or the daily megathread. Chat does this by being a long-form community where topics will remain from day to day unlike the megathread, and it is distinct from c/chapotraphouse in that we ask you to engage in this community in a genuine way. Please keep shitposting, bits, and irony to a minimum.

As with all communities posts need to abide by the code of conduct, additionally moderators will remove any posts or comments deemed to be inappropriate.

Thank you and happy chatting!

founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
 

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.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] CarbonScored@hexbear.net 19 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (6 children)

I don't care - stop using long dashes. It's a useless character and the less you use it the easier it is to discern AI slop without even having to think. It'll only be a year or two before ChatGPT stops using it, so don't undermine a very cool and assuredly temporary useful discernment tool.

A normal length dash does everything you want. You know why nobody knows em-dash existed before? Because nobody ever noticed you using it and everyone reads it as a normal dash.

You can have your em-dash back in a couple years.

[–] XxFemboy_Stalin_420_69xX@hexbear.net 26 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] CarbonScored@hexbear.net 8 points 1 day ago

I like these normal length dashes you used

[–] Dessa@hexbear.net 10 points 1 day ago

Hyphens read completely differently IMO

[–] tocopherol@hexbear.net 8 points 1 day ago (2 children)

When I see the short dash like in your text it doesn't read as a long pause to me but almost like you're combining care-stop, it doesn't have the same effect as –. I've seen them used in articles plenty before the rise of GPT text. I'm not sure it is necessarily a reliable tell for AI.

[–] quarrk@hexbear.net 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

it doesn't have the same effect as –

Not sure if you’re trolling, but that is an en dash, the middle child of the dashes. Used specifically for indicating ranges. E.g. year 1900–1902, numbers 0–9. The meaning is different from the slightly longer em dash

[–] tocopherol@hexbear.net 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Ah thanks, I'm on mobile, I wasn't sure which was the —em— on my keyboard, I don't use any of these highfalutin text lines normally

[–] ChestRockwell@hexbear.net 5 points 1 day ago

It's really not. The emdash also auto changes in word if you use a - then type something.

Since I've started writing in markdown I have to do double-- to auto complete into emdash, but in word it's coded in AFAIK

[–] KobaCumTribute@hexbear.net 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

I see it used in books pretty often, presumably because the text editors used for those have autocorrects for special characters like that and the ellipses character.

[–] quarrk@hexbear.net 5 points 1 day ago

I was taught all the dashes in school along with all the other punctuation. Didn’t realize this was arcane knowledge. I also see them in books and other edited literature all the time. It is not obscure at all

I need an excuse to use my compose key