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Knows — and What We’re Forgetting\\\”,seo:\\\”\\\”},summary:\\\”The debate about ChatGPT’s use of the em dash marks a shift in not only how we write, but what writing is for.\\\”,credits:void 0,body:[{type:\\\”embed\\\”,value:{media:{assetType:\\\”\\\”,assetSlug:\\\”100000010402593\\\”,breakpointName:void 0,assetErrors:[\\\”Slug is a valid looking Scoop ID that doesn’t exist or has other issues.\\\”,\\\”assetType couldn’t be determined from the given slug.\\\”]},embedId:0}},{type:\\\”text\\\”,value:\\\”There are countless signals you might look for to determine whether a piece of writing was generated by A.I., but earlier this year the world seemed to fixate on one in particular: the em dash. ChatGPT was using it constantly — like so, and even if you begged it not to.\\\”},{type:\\\”text\\\”,value:\\\”As this observation traveled the internet, a weird consensus congealed: that humans\\\\u003Cem> do not \\\\u003C\u002Fem>use dashes. Posters on tech forums called them a “GPT-ism,” a robotic artifact that “does not match modern day communication.” Someone on an OpenAI forum complained that the dashes made it harder to use ChatGPT for customer service without customers catching on. All sorts of people seemed mystifyingly confident that no flesh-and-bone human had any use for this punctuation, and that any deviant who did would henceforth be mistaken for a computer.\\\”},{type:\\\”text\\\”,value:\\\”Those deviants were appalled, obviously. I’m one; I am, even worse, a former proofreader who could speak at length and with passion about the uses of the narrower \\\\u003Cem>en \\\\u003C\u002Fem>dash — I could accept that my dash-happy lifestyle was maybe \\\\u003Cem>atypical\\\\u003C\u002Fem>, but I was surprised by the insistence that it did not even exist. The dash is a time-honored and exceedingly normal tool for constructing sentences! Dickens, Dickinson, Nietzsche, Stephen King novels, this magazine — all strewn with dashes. Part of what makes them popular, in fact, is that they can feel \\\\u003Cem>more \\\\u003C\u002Fem>casually human, more like natural speech, than colons, semicolons and parentheses. Humans do not think or speak in sentences; we think and speak in \\\\u003Cem>thoughts\\\\u003C\u002Fem>, which interrupt and introduce and complicate one another in a neat little dance that creates larger, more complex ideas. (Or, sometimes, doesn’t: The copious dashing in J.D. Salinger dialogue is a great illustration of how often our clauses are arrested or left hanging.)\\\”},{type:\\\”text\\\”,value:\\\”The best A.I. signal the dash offers isn’t about punctuation; it’s about orthography. ChatGPT sets its dashes in the traditional style of a printed book — a stroke the width of the letter M, with no surrounding spaces. The average computer user does not type like this. The average user may not know the keystrokes that produce this character. (Or its name; some discussions called it a “ChatGPT hyphen.”) The average user just pops in a hyphen (-) or two (–), which some software corrects to that underloved \\\\u003Cem>en \\\\u003C\u002Fem>dash (–). More important, the average user puts \\\\u003Cem>spaces \\\\u003C\u002Fem>around their dashes, as most online publications do — it helps text wrap more neatly between lines.\\\”},{type:\\\”text\\\”,value:\\\”But the arguments kept revolving around the dash itself. People talked about it as if it were some uncanny eldritch rune that no self-respecting human would even think to deploy. “Nobody uses the em dash in their emails or text messages,” one commenter insisted. “This punctuation is irrelevant to everyday use-cases.”\\\”},{type:\\\”text\\\”,value:{value:\\\”\\\\u003Cspan class=\\\”g-quote\\\”>Oceans of communication that used to be handled by speech are now left to lone individuals typing into the internet.\\\\u003C\u002Fspan> \\\\u003Cspan class=\\\”g-quote-attribution\\\”>\\\\u003C\u002Fspan>\”,className:\\\”g-pullquoteblock\\\”}},{type:\\\”text\\\”,value:\\\”I am not writing this to defend dashes. 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We’re always on the lookout for clues that writing might be A.I.-generated, but recently, the internet collectively honed in on a peculiar one: the em dash. ChatGPT, it seemed, couldn’t get enough of them—using them constantly, even when explicitly told not to.
As this observation spread, a strange consensus formed: supposedly, real humans don’t use dashes. Tech forum users labeled them a ‘GPT-ism’—a tell-tale sign of robotic prose that felt out of sync with modern communication. One frustrated user on an OpenAI forum even lamented that these dashes made it impossible to use ChatGPT for customer service without being exposed. It seemed everyone was convinced that no actual human would ever employ such punctuation, and anyone who did would automatically be flagged as an an A.I.
Naturally, this infuriated those of us who actually do use dashes. As a former proofreader who could passionately wax poetic about the subtle distinctions of the en dash, I admit my dash-loving habits might be uncommon, but I certainly didn’t expect our very existence to be called into question! The dash is a venerable and perfectly normal tool for crafting sentences. Think of Dickens, Dickinson, Nietzsche, or Stephen King novels—even this very magazine!—they’re all brimming with dashes. In fact, one reason for their enduring popularity is how they can mimic the casual, conversational rhythm of human speech more closely than colons, semicolons, or parentheses. Humans don’t process or speak in perfectly formed sentences; our thoughts often interrupt, introduce, and elaborate on one another in a complex, flowing dance of ideas. (Sometimes, this dance is less graceful, as J.D. Salinger’s dialogue brilliantly shows with its many unfinished clauses.) This intricate mirroring of thought is precisely what punctuation is for.
Perhaps the true A.I. giveaway isn’t the dash itself, but its orthography—how it’s rendered. ChatGPT produces em dashes in the classic print style: a single stroke the width of an ‘M,’ with no spaces on either side. The typical computer user doesn’t type this way. Many wouldn’t even know the keyboard shortcuts to create this specific character (some discussions even mistakenly referred to it as a ‘ChatGPT hyphen’). Most people just use one or two hyphens (- or –), which some software might auto-correct to the less common en dash (–). Crucially, most online users and publications add spaces around their dashes, making the text flow more cleanly across lines.
Yet, the conversation stubbornly circled back to the dash itself. People discussed it as if it were some mystical, forbidden symbol—a relic no self-respecting human would ever consider using. ‘No one uses the em dash in emails or texts,’ one commenter declared, adding, ‘This punctuation is irrelevant to everyday use-cases.’
Vast oceans of communication, once flowing through spoken words, are now channeled through solitary individuals typing into the digital ether.
Let me be clear: I’m not here to mount a defense of the dash. Instead, I want to explore how the very notion of ‘everyday use-cases’ points to a monumental, generational shift in our fundamental understanding of what writing is.
For much of recent history, most written material people encountered—anything beyond simple signs or menus—was truly composed writing. This involved someone sitting down, crafting their thoughts, perhaps revising and editing, or even having it professionally printed. This form of communication was distinct from our daily interactions; we primarily spoke to our peers. This fundamental dynamic largely held true, even in the early days of the internet.
Today, that distinction has all but vanished. ‘Emails or text messages,’ social media posts, DMs, chat threads, comments, even a DoorDasher informing you about missing coleslaw—these are vast seas of communication now entrusted to individuals typing alone into the internet. Even if you’re an avid reader of traditional long-form content, you’ll likely spend a significant portion of your day engaging in these instant, ‘on-the-fly’ typings, because this has become the new everyday reality of written communication.
This new everyday language is undeniably fascinating—it’s so playfully expressive that it’s even birthed its own version of the mockingly sarcastic voice we use to ridicule silly ideas (yOu KnOw, TyPiNg LiKe tHiS). But ‘writing-writing’ remains fundamentally different, doesn’t it? At its peak, it accesses a distinct intellectual space: less raw and instantaneous, perhaps, but frequently more refined and intentional, meticulously crafted to orchestrate the flow of thought with greater clarity, nuance, and, of course, proper punctuation.
Large language models are fed enormous datasets of human-written prose, absorbing a quantity of historical printed material far exceeding what any individual could ever consume. We instruct these machines to emulate our writing, but we often fail to specify—or even recognize—that our modern definition of ‘writing’ now heavily includes the virtually spoken interactions we conduct through our screens daily. When the A.I. delivers its output, filled with echoes of classic literature and journalism, we scrutinize these ‘artifacts’ and label them ‘robotic.’ The truth is, these machines are merely reflecting our own linguistic heritage back at us, often without truly understanding it. We’re on the cusp of evolving our writing traditions, and perhaps we haven’t fully grasped it yet.
Illustration by Outlanders Design