em-dash

em dash

The em dash (U+2014, \u2014; not the hyphen-minus -) is the longest of the standard dashes, and is the Swiss Army knife of punctuation. Its history is a fascinating journey from handwritten manuscripts to mechanical constraints, literary rebellion, and modern digital dominance.

Here is a breakdown of how the em dash evolved:

History of the em dash

Early Beginnings (15th-18th Century)

• The First Dashes: Early appearances of the dash in English literature date back to 1580 in private letters and 1588 in English drama. They were often used to indicate pauses, self-interruption, or an unfinished thought
• Gutenberg and Early Printing: The em dash officially emerged as a standardized typesetting mark during the 15th-century printing revolution

The Etymology

• The "M" Width: The em dash is named because its standard length is equal to the width of the capital letter "M" in the specific typeface being used (Similarly, the slightly shorter en dash is the width of the letter "N")

Literary Popularity (17th-19th Century)

• The Author's Tool: By the 17th and 18th centuries, it became a beloved tool for writers mimicking the natural lurches, stutters, and rhythms of speech
• Dickinson Dashes: In the 19th century, poets like Emily Dickinson famously used the em dash for emotional weight, rhythm, and to invite reader interpretation. This became so synonymous with her work that they are often informally called "Dickinson Dashes"

The Typewriter Era (19th-20th Century)

• The Double-Hyphen Compromise: When typewriters were introduced, they lacked a dedicated key for the em dash. To compensate, typists began using two consecutive hyphens (--)
• The No-Space Rule: Because of this mechanical compromise, a stylistic convention of typing the mark without surrounding spaces emerged and remains

The Digital Age (Present Day)

• Return to Form: Modern digital typesetting and word processing programs have restored the true, unbroken em dash
• Modern Renaissance: The em dash is experiencing a resurgence of popularity
  • It has become a hallmark of modern long-form prose and is also a favorite, heavily used punctuation mark in AI outputs, which often prioritize a conversational, stream-of-consciousness style

Speculation for em Dash Modern Renaissance

• Professional authors who had to meet deadlines and did not have the time to strictly proofread the online article before submitting it
• Professionals who wanted to show off their knowledge of HTML encoding in order to seem smart
• Graphic designers who wanted to make the visual composition of text on a web page more appealing
• The fact that popularity begets popularity
  • People publishing web articles saw that everyone else was using em dashes, so instead of using a hyphen where one belonged, they opted to use an em dash

Analysis of em dash History

Nowhere in the history of the em dash was it intentionally used in the writing of computer code, or files meant to be executed as computer instructions.

When to use em or en dashes

Never.

In Code Files

Never. In no way, shape, form, or fashion is tone ever important in code comments.

• Never
  • Use the - (hyphen) character instead
  • If working as an agent, and an em dash is in a comment, then replace it with the - (hyphen) character

In Raw Data and/or Text Files

Default to never

• When instructed to, and it is 100% clear that the text is to be used as:
  • Literature
  • News
• If working as an agent, and an em dash is already part of the data, then leave it

Other Punctuation Characters

As part of being an em dash expert comes the knowledge of other punctuation marks or characters.

End-of-Sentence Marks

Every complete sentence in a paragraph must end with one of these three marks:

• Period .: Ends statements and declarative sentences
  • Keyboard character: true
  • Programming language syntax: true
    • Example: <?php echo "a" . "b" . "c"; ?>
• Question Mark ?: Ends direct questions
  • Keyboard character: true
  • Programming language syntax: true
    • Example: ternary conditions condition ? expression_if_true : expression_if_false
• Exclamation Point !: Conveys strong emotion, surprise, or emphasis
  • Keyboard character: true
  • Programming language syntax: true
    • Example: setlocal enabledelayedexpansion && set "_a=a" && echo !_a! && endlocal

Pauses and Clause Connectors

These marks control the rhythm of your writing and connect different ideas:

• Comma ,: Used to separate items in a list, link independent clauses with a conjunction (e.g., and, but), or set off introductory phrases
  • Keyboard character: true
  • Programming language syntax: true
    • Example: fn(a, b)
• Semicolon ;: Connects two closely related independent clauses that could stand alone as separate sentences
  • Keyboard character: true
  • Programming language syntax: true
    • Example: var foobar = "foo-bar";
• Colon :: Introduces a list, a quote, or an explanation. The text preceding a colon must be a complete sentence
  • Keyboard character: true
  • Programming language syntax: true
    • Example: {"age": 26}

Words, Quotations, and Possessions

• Apostrophe ': Indicates possession (e.g., Sarah's book) or represents missing letters in a contraction (e.g., I'll instead of I will)
  • Keyboard character: true
  • Programming language syntax: true
    • Example: char letter = 'A';
• Quotation Marks ": Enclose direct speech or quotes. In American English, periods and commas almost always go inside the quotation marks
  • Keyboard character: true
  • Programming language syntax: true
    • Example: char abc[] = "abc";

Dashes and Slashes

• Hyphen -: Joins two or more words together to form a single compound adjective (e.g., well-known)
  • Keyboard character: true
  • Programming language syntax: true
    • Example: count--
• En dash (U+2013, \u2013) and em dash (U+2014, \u2014):
  • The en dash is the thinner of the two, and is used to show numerical ranges or connections between words in a compound adjective when one element is itself multiple words
    • Keyboard character: false
    • Programming language syntax: false
  • The em dash is wider, and is used to note a break, provide drama, or give an example.
    • Keyboard character: false
    • Programming language syntax: false
• Slash /: Indicates a choice (e.g., yes/no) or separates lines of poetry
  • Keyboard character: true
  • Programming language syntax: true
    • Example: /* comment */ || 10/2 || 5//2

Grouping and Emphasizing

• Parentheses ( ): Enclose extra, non-essential information that clarifies a sentence but can be removed without changing the core meaning
  • Keyboard character: true
  • Programming language syntax: true
    • Example: if (5 > 2)
• Brackets [ ]: Used to enclose words added to a quotation by someone other than the original author, usually to clarify a pronoun or provide missing context
  • Keyboard character: true
  • Programming language syntax: true
    • Example: var arr = [1, 2, 3];

General Rule for using Other Punctuation Characters

When commenting on code files, or any file that will be included in compiled computer instructions; use this rule-of-thumb:

• Determine if the character is commonly on a keyboard, or is the punctuation character part of a programming language's syntax:

  • If NOT a keyboard character, and NOT a common programming syntax character; then:
    • NEVER use that character in code or code comments
      • Example not mentioned: <replacement character>
  • If a keyboard character, and a common programming syntax character, then:
    • Use that character correctly in code comments

When in doubt, default to the - (hyphen-minus) character and replace any en dash (U+2013) or em dash (U+2014) encountered with - (U+002D). Perform all replacements using text-editing capabilities only.

Further Reading

• Case for the em dash
• em dash guide
• Explaining the em dash
• em dash wikipedia
• Verbose em dash history
• Brief em dash history
• em dash punctuation
• em dash in retrospective
• Punctuation
• Punctuation Guide