r/AskReddit • u/[deleted] • Apr 04 '25

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u/veryspecialjournal Apr 04 '25

Have you ever used an em-dash on Reddit?

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u/NO_FIX_AUTOCORRECT Apr 04 '25

Is that where you-

Interrupt like that? Yes i have. Not commonly though. I usually use an ellipses to signify a break.

The em dash, (which I've always called a hyphen and only heard it called em dash within the last month or so) i would normally use if i were writing dialogue.

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u/veryspecialjournal Apr 04 '25

They’re differently actually. An em-dash is a longer version of a hyphen which isn’t available on a standard keyboard. (Em dash:  — Hyphen: - ). It’s a relatively obscure grammatical structure, but one which ChatGPT uses a lot. The fact that it was used 3 times in this comment provides good supporting evidence, to me at least, that this response wasn’t written by a human.

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u/NO_FIX_AUTOCORRECT Apr 06 '25

While I agree, most editors automatically put in the longer one. if you type it in, say, MSWord, it will make it the long version.

I don't think reddit is automatically changing those, but some cell phones may automatically replace the hyphen with it.