/lit/ - Literature

[Anonymous No.20819788]

>become a douchebag with this one easy trick!

[Anonymous No.20819792]

>>20819788
>t. —madman malding because he doesn't just know Alt+0151

[Anonymous No.20819793]

>>20819788
>become… no one new at all, you just use this funny punctuation mark when it’s appropriate every once in a while
>get people like OP worked up for no reason

[Anonymous No.20819829]

>>20819788
There are many circumstances--such as this one--that make the em dash as suitable or more suitable than brackets (which I also like) and more readable than commas, a shit solution, when one is marking a break in the sentence. I find the em dash to also be useful in place of a semicolon at times--the em dash is far more obtrusive.

[Anonymous No.20819875]

>>20819788
Now—Ten thousand, and ten thousand times ten thousand (for matter and motion are infinite) are the ways by which a hat may be dropped upon the ground, without any effect.—Had he flung it, or thrown it, or cast it, or skimmed it, or squirted, or let it slip or fall in any possible direction under heaven,—or in the best direction that could be given to it,—had he dropped it like a goose—like a puppy—like an ass—or in doing it, or even after he had done, had he looked like a fool,—like a ninny—like a nicompoop—it had fail'd, and the effect upon the heart had been lost.

[Anonymous No.20819923]

>>20819788
Like most ESL fags—Anon never learned about the em-dash in school—or was incorrectly taught to use double dashes like an absolute retard—in fact—he never heard of the em—or en—dash at all—until recently—when he first picked up Brandon Sanderson—he’ll deny it and say it was Joyce—but we all know that’s a fucking lie—and was instantly assaulted by a barrage of long ass lines—which instantly fried his mongrel brain—making him questioned everything he thought he knew about the English language—he looked through his old favorites and was shocked to find out that—they too—were filled with em-dashes—he just never picked up on it—his brain refused to see it—till now—at this point—Anon had two paths forward—first—embrace the em-dash and use it to mess with other ESLs—or second—whine about it like an absolute retard on 4Channel—Anon chose second—and the rest was history.

[Anonymous No.20820002]

>>20819875
>>20819923
You have both used it incorrectly here--what a sad state this board is in.

[Anonymous No.20821127]

>>20819829
>>20820002
>--

[Anonymous No.20821131]

I love the em dash so much bros.

[Anonymous No.20821132]

>>20819788
—I detest perverted commas

[Anonymous No.20821199]

>>20819923
>only english uses em-dashes
the absolute state of /lit/. if you don't speak at least 2 languages you don't belong on this board

[Anonymous No.20822930]

>>20819923
Double hyphen is the same thing, almost all typewriters and the like lacked the em-dash so double hyphen became a synonym. If it were not for the double hyphen the em-dash may very well have become extinct. I have a fondness for the double hyphen but almost always use the em-dash.

[Anonymous No.20822942]

>>20819829
You can use an en dash there. em dash is longer and

[Anonymous No.20822956]

>>20821132
That's a horizontal bar. See >>20822942

[Anonymous No.20823592]

>>20821127
Noob. You must be young.

[Anonymous No.20823598]

>>20819788
>em dash
>not even shaped like an M
wtf?

[Anonymous No.20823602]

>>20823598
It's intended to be the width of the "m" character in a respectable typeface. En dashes are the same for "n"

[Anonymous No.20823607]

>>20819792
I love it so much.—

[Anonymous No.20823608]

>>20823602
I didn't know that. Thanks, man.

[Anonymous No.20823611]

>>20822942
–
—
―
‒

[Anonymous No.20823822]

>>20819788
Do you not know how to use that?

[Anonymous No.20823868]

>>20819788
The American education system has failed its youth.

[Anonymous No.20823932]

>>20819788
>—t. 9/11 norwood

[Anonymous No.20824046]

>>20821199
—Imagine reading my wall of nonsense and not coming to the—correct—conclusion that:—I too—am an ESL fag.

[Anonymous No.20824133]

>>20819788
I feel like the hatred of em dashes is some bizarre meme forced by people who have fallen out of love with reading. "Oh but it's annoying when it's misused!" they cry, as if any punctuation isn't annoying when misused. Anyway, I want to bring attention to this baffling bit of punctuation in one of the last sentences of Moby-Dick, where Melville, unable to choose between a semi-colon or a dash, decides to just use both:
>But as the last whelmings intermixingly poured themselves over the sunken head of the Indian at the mainmast, leaving a few inches of the erect spar yet visible, together with long streaming yards of the flag, which calmly undulated, with ironical coincidings, over the destroying billows they almost touched;- at that instant, a red arm and a hammer hovered backwardly uplifted in the open air, in the act of nailing the flag faster and yet faster to the subsiding spar.
Great book, great bit of prose, but a really baffling choice imo.

[Anonymous No.20824157]

Gedankenstrich - I like it

[Anonymous No.20824198]

>>20824133
Did it ever occur to you to research the ;- before posting about it? It was somewhat common for a good while in english, along with the :- . I find it very odd you just assumed Melville did something weird instead of assuming it was something which had fallen out of use.

[Anonymous No.20824205]

the em dash is extra long to indicate the style of cock you like up your asshole.

[Anonymous No.20824216]

>>20824133
>baffling
Not really, since it was normal for that time and a little while afterwards. I still use it in posts sometimes since I think it's aesthetic and still has some use for flow. I just keep it out of fiction/academic writing since I know it's no longer in style

[Anonymous No.20824217]

>>20824198
I did look it up, but all the results were coding related or pages of just random symbols. Also, I'm surprised I haven't seen it elsewhere, I read a decent amount of 19th century books. What differentiates it from just a normal semi-colon or dash? What was the point?

[Anonymous No.20824274]

>>20824217
It is fairly easy too miss, the semi-colon can blend into the previous word leaving it looking like a plain old hyphen. The Cambridge Encyclopedia of the English Language is a good reference book for this stuff, believe it has an entry for both of these.

[Anonymous No.20824290]

>>20824274
Thanks for the info anon, I've got some research to do now.

[Anonymous No.20824294]

>>20823868
You have to admit its kind of pretentious

[Anonymous No.20824310]

>>20824198
:----D

[Anonymous No.20824322]

>>20819788

[Anonymous No.20825061]

>>20824310
The dog's bollocks