this post was submitted on 02 Oct 2024
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How on earth did English typography get so weird with mdash, ndash, dash, hyphen, etcetera while most of the readers have no clue about the the differences. IMHO, just use dash.
Can you explain me how the different lengths of dash add to the understanding of the text, when I usually don't even see the difference on my mobile phone screen?
They have different meanings where the lengths help at a glance such as using en dash for a compound adjective or em dash for a longer pause for a clause. This aides in reading even if you only pick up on it subconsciously.
How was this handled in the age of typewriters?
Using multiple consecutive hyphens. Some schools used -- for em-dash, others
(still used today in latex), and then -- for en-dash.