https://blog.nawaz.org/posts/2025/Dec/a-proclamation-regarding-the-restoration-of-the-dash/

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A Proclamation Regarding the Restoration of the Dash

Posted on Fri 26 December 2025

    WHEREAS, the em--dash (--) has long served as the elegant
    scaffolding of the English sentence, providing the necessary
    breadth for parenthetical thought, sudden turns of phrase, and
    rhythmic pause;

    WHEREAS, a modern and unfounded prejudice has arisen, wherein the
    presence of the em--dash is viewed with suspicion and cited as the
    "tell--tale sign" of the unthinking machine;

    WHEREAS, the Large Language Model has merely mimicked a
    sophistication it cannot truly possess, thereby unfairly
    maligning a mark of punctuation that predates the silicon chip
    by centuries;

    WHEREAS, the humble hyphen (-) is a utilitarian stitch for
    compound words and line--breaks, yet is increasingly used as a
    cowardly substitute for the bold, expansive stroke of
    the em--dash;

    WHEREAS, I refuse to cede the beauty of classical punctuation to
    the algorithms, nor shall I allow my prose to be flattened by the
    fear of looking "artificial";

    NOW, THEREFORE, BE IT RESOLVED, that I reclaim this mark from the
    domain of the bot and return it to the hand of the writer.

    I HEREBY DECREE that henceforth, within the borders of this blog,
    the hyphen shall be banished from all roles of punctuation and
    pause--to be replaced, in every instance of stylistic flair, by
    the glorious, unrepentant em--dash.

When writing in both LaTeX and Microsoft Word, I routinely use double
or triple dashes to form em--dashes. It pains me to see people jumping
to conclusions when they encounter an em--dash in the wild.

In protest, I wrote [1] a plugin to convert all hyphens in this blog
to em--dashes. Even ones that really should just be hyphens.

Come join the revolution! (mjd)

[1] OK, OK, I vibe coded it.

Tags:

  * llm
  * ai
  * emdash

  * Previous Article: Pelican on a Bike - Raytracer Edition

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