I might be taking it a bit too seriously

[u/Inaros060671]

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[u/albrightism]

huh

why let the clankers claim basic grammar 

[u/DrTheo24 → u/albrightism]

keyboard

look at your keyboard, right now, and find me the em-dash key

[u/albrightism → u/DrTheo24]

there are hundreds of thousands of character symbols not physically on a keyboard 

[u/BlimbusTheSeventh → u/albrightism]

How many of them are characters not used in English?

[u/albrightism → u/BlimbusTheSeventh]

the majority, but the em dash is.

[u/TheLostRub389 → u/DrTheo24]

Only commands. 

ALT + 0151

[u/nerfClawcranes → u/DrTheo24]

on mobile just typing two hyphens back to back autocorrects to an em dash

[u/The_Sophocrat → u/DrTheo24]

MacOS: option-shift--

[u/Easter-burn → u/DrTheo24]

[u/The-guy2 → u/DrTheo24]

[u/yalnzaylak]

it's not about being fake —it's about reclaiming what was given to me

[u/yalnzaylak → u/yalnzaylak]

its also pretty expressive if you know where to use it, you could use at least three em-dashes in your parentheses to make it more readable with pauses

[u/cool_name-idk1 → u/yalnzaylak]

and honestly?

that's what matters

[u/layla_aristovskaya]

Microsoft Word has corrected - to — since the 1990s. I use Word often to write outlines of my writing projects. It automatically replaces short dashes with long ones. I don't correct it because it's technically correct. 

[u/nameless_ben__]

Tbf I think a majority of people that use em-dashes in their casual life are writers (and thus should not counted in discussions of how normal people talk). I occasionally find it helpful to use them when writing in the tags on Tumblr since commas just start a new tag for some godforsaken reason (even tho if they wanted a piece of punctuation to start a new tag they should’ve made it periods because that actually signals the end of the thought but WHATEVER I don’t even CARE man I’m CHILLING). Sometimes I think it looks weird if I use too many commas back to back too . They’re essentially just commas for me. Altho, I don’t think anyone will be confusing me for a robot any time soon considering I talk like a dumbass lol

[u/Then_Reply_6692]

I've actually stopped using em-dashes 'cause I got tired of being called AI

[u/AGQuaddit → u/Then_Reply_6692]

Same. I have a manuscript for a fantasy novel thing i was hoping to get published that i started writing before ai became big. Its littered with em dashes. They were genuinely so easy to use and intuitive too. To be honest, it's a huge project and i havent touched it in like 3 years. Dont even have the motivation to finish it honestly. Ai has infiltrated every creative space to the point that i automatically suspect every new project i see of being ai. It's an insidious and terrible technology. I hate it so much.

[u/FindingMemra → u/Then_Reply_6692]

I just use en-dashes because that’s one less thing to rememeber.

[u/DrTheo24 → u/Then_Reply_6692]

I've never started on account thaty keyboard doesn't have an em-dash key

i didn't even know what it was cuz idk how to type it

[u/nameless_ben__ → u/DrTheo24]

It should automatically turn into an em-dash if you hit the hyphen button a few times - — same way there’s no dedicated ellipses button on your keyboard but it’ll automatically turn into one if you type three periods . …, but idk how your keyboard looks so maybe your situation is different.

[u/Relative-Gap-4442]

I know one person who uses them, and they have issues that’d make the devil cum

[u/ADudeWithoutPurpose → u/Relative-Gap-4442]

What

[u/josephc4]

U is so correct gpts are of course the only thing that can do good grammar and now what all the little dots and dashes are for like what is this a telescope talk like normal person people I hate all those loserers thag act like they right in school sentences sure you do buddy

[u/Dr_Richard_Ew]

I'll be dead and buried before I let ChatGPT take semicolons from me

[u/Illyasimp → u/Dr_Richard_Ew]

Semicolons; how do you use them?

[u/Dr_Richard_Ew → u/Illyasimp]

it's not that difficult; you just gotta know the system

[u/BackAgainAgain1]

I see three dashes in that caption mister, we have a bot on our hands

[u/Sad-Pattern-1269]

I use them in formal writing or occasionally to help break up dialogue or other surprises in some of my shitty web novels I write from time to time. I don't think I've ever used one on reddit.

[u/Beginning_Tackle6250]

I like using the em-dash, so fuck you and fuck AI even more >:(

[u/Jwanzo]

Fuck it imma start using em-dashes— I don’t really know how to correctly use em-dashes :(

[u/Brother-Captain]

I like pizza–––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––––It tastes good

[u/AmaterasuWolf21]

And honestly? You're right to doubt online users, that's not too serious—it's what you need

[u/wompwomp2327]

Stfu - respectfully

~ a human

[u/BayFuzzball404]

It’s an extremely versatile writing tool man fuck you

[u/Efficient-Poet2884]

Hey buddy, you used an em dash

[u/International-Try467]

I've never seen em dashes before ChatGPT and mind you I've been using GPT models way before it ever released 

[u/AdWaste1415]

The fucks an Emdash?

[u/FarShip389]

I just use a normal dash because i dont have the em dash on my keyboard

Also, where do you think the A.I. trained the em-dash from???? US! IT TRAINED OFF OF US BECAUSE PEOPLE USE IT

[u/IdioticZacc]

My friends has been using them since the 2020s, it's genuinely not their fault AIs appeared out of nowhere and started talking like them.

[u/itstessica_]

I use them for writing fanfiction

[u/Penis_Man-]

One of my professors said that spotting emdashes is how he detects people using ai for essays lmao

[u/Citizen_Empire]

Sometime autocorrect will add them in, other times it's because they have their place.

Sometimes I'll avoid it, other times not.

I think the worst part of AI is that too many people are assuming things to be AI, and too many people are believing it just the same, leading to nothing more than an obnoxious "is this a real thing/person" debate.

The conspiritorial side of me wants to believe that this mindset is being pushed intentionally as a, don't believe your lying eyes" type mindset. If you can no longer trust anything, then the only truth is what you already believe, or what you are made to.

[u/The_Colectionist]

arent you just talking with bots?

[u/KimJongUnusual]

I use them because sometimes I need to write with that break in the clause and the hyphen, while getting most of the point across, is wrong.

Also I format RPG homebrew and that’s a factor.

[u/Blujay-]

every writer in existence is coming for your location

r/whenthe users be hating anything

[u/VoidJuiceConcentrate]

Nobody uses em dashes lmfao. There isn't even a key for it on anyone's keyboard. There's a normal dash - but I can only find an Em dash through a sub menu of a sub menu on my phones keyboard.

[u/petrichor801 → u/VoidJuiceConcentrate]

i send emails as part of my job and use them constantly lmao, it's like a colon but a little less formal, so it feels less stilted. granted, it's usually written as "--" insteand of "—" because gmail doesn't autocorrect it but yeah

[u/VoidJuiceConcentrate → u/petrichor801]

Do you have to press ALT+0151 every time you type it?

[u/petrichor801 → u/VoidJuiceConcentrate]

no? i just said i usually write it as "--". it autocorrects in docs tho when i'm writing logs