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Yeah, this is what I don't understand, surely people aren't "using" em dashes deliberately. I assumed MS word was just inserting them automatically when the user used a minus symbol between two words. Kind of like angled quotes.


I've been using em dashes for much longer than transformers have existed. It's easily accessible on at least the Android and macOS keyboards.


I use them when they're easy to type. For me, that's on Android, macOS, and anywhere I've configured a compose key.

Angled quotes I use only on systems on which I've configured a compose key, or Android when I'm typing Chinese.

I don't like any kind of auto-replacement with physical keyboards, so I turn off "smart quotes" on macOS.

Anyway I use characters like that all the time, but it's never auto-replace.


> surely people aren't "using" em dashes deliberately

I've had a "trigger finger" for Alt+0151 on Windows since 2010 at least.


When I worked in company that did content marketing and had a lot of writers, one of the coffee mugs they gave to us had Alt+0151 in it!

Em-Dash was really popular with professional writers.


> surely people aren't "using" em dashes deliberately

I am, it's on the default German X11 keyboard layout. Same for · × ÷ …

And that's without going to the trusty compose key (Caps Lock for me)… wonders like ½ and H₂O await!


update: I read that word will place an em dash if you use two dashes "--"




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