Comment by lynndotpy
5 months ago
You might also want to rank by how often people use double hyphens-- like so.
I'm probably not alone here in being a longtime Linux user who started using a Macbook after the Apple Silicon transition, late 2022.
On Windows and Linux, inserting an em-dash is a laborious alt-code process. But on MacOS with an Apple keyboard, the `option` key acts like a tertiary shift, so an `–` em dash is just <option><->.
I didn't start using em-dashes (typing -- is just second nature to me and I'm still on Linux most of the time) when I got a Macbook, but I imagine some people in my shoes did.
That character is actually the en dash (properly used in ranges, e.g. 5–10). The em dash is [shift][option][-]. I would also include triple hyphen in that list; for those of us used to TeX a double hyphen (--) is an en dash and a triple (---) is an em dash.
Yup. I use an em dash all the time after I started using TeX. Probably makes my posts look like AI—but it’s worth it.
To get an em dash on an iPhone, long hold the hyphen—it’s the third (longest) option.
(Edit: typo. Using iPhone after all.)
You aren’t putting spaces before and after the dash - which lowers your AI probability score in my mind.
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> The em dash is [shift][option][-].
On the US layout, sure, but there are other layouts where they are switched (i.e. ⌥- is em-dash and ⇧⌥- is en-dash).
> On Windows and Linux, inserting an em-dash is a laborious alt-code process.
On Linux, you can set up a Compose key, after which an em-dash is compose, three hyphens (Macintosh: shift-option-hyphen), and an en-dash is compose, two hyphens, period (Macintosh: option-hyphen). Also, a left (resp. right) single (resp. double) quote is compose, less-than (resp. greater-than), typewriter single (resp. double) quote. That’s how I enter them.
You can also (alternatively or at the same time) set up a “Level 3 shift” aka “Alternate Characters Key” aka AltGr, which gets you quotes with one of the English International layouts or quotes as well as dashes with an English Macintosh layout.
I started using them in 2008 or so (I think) when I created a custom keymap to added greek characters and nbsp. I stopped using them after MacOS changed to make them automatically because then their use started to be an obvious sign of being an apple user (see also: https://www.jstor.org/stable/2096459).
Someone recently created some long list of my reddit comments using them as a farcical claim of having used ChatGPT to author many dozens of 2010 comments.
Why did someone go to that effort?
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Yep, I was a Linux user for the longest time, so naturally used compose for em dashes (compose key + triple hyphen IIRC). I was later thrilled to learn that on macOS (which was called Mac OS X back then) it's even faster to type with option-shift-hyphen, and never let go of em- and en-dashes in my writing.
It's sad and not at all unsurprising that people who even half-assedly care about typography get this effort attributed to AI use.
In the post-competence workplace we're collectively building now with all the LLM coding tools, I already see people intuitively attributing non-trivial code to AI. It's a projection of own inability, more or less.
At some point any sentence with proper capitalization will be the marker of AI.
iOS will convert a double dash into an em dash automatically — see? (I typed a double dash)
It didn't do it for me -- that's a double dash. I wonder if it's because I have smart punctuation turned off — yep, that was it.
Well, it's be nice if I could choose that option, but not smart quotes. C'est la vie as an iOS user.
It will also print stars automatically if you type in your password.
hunter2
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On Linux you can write the dashes by setting a Compose key.
On Linux, we are free to add symbols to third or fourth level:
ʼ́ ¹² € § ° ≤≥ • — – ≠± ®©™ «» „“ …
I too, use -- as an em dash and it comes naturally.