Option + Shift + –
That’s how you type an em dash on a Mac.
I had to look it up. Because—let’s be honest—who is doing that when a comma, colon, or parentheses works just fine?
Lies. All of you.
Maybe the career writers knew. The rest of you? No you did not.
Things I learned in my research:
• The em dash is named for being the length of a capital M
• The en dash (Option + -) is the length of a capital N
• I’ve apparently been using hyphens this whole time like a fool
• Hyphens are for compound words like 'contract-captain' or 'day-rate-diplomat'
Also: on Windows, to type an em dash you have to hold Alt + 0151 on the numeric keypad.
That’s insane. None of you are doing that.
This is now my primary argument for switching to Mac.
(Ok I just did a little more research and it looks like Windows folks can also just press Ctrl + Alt + -. Well played, Bill.)
Anyway, I don’t care if you’re using AI in your posts. Do you think this beautiful formatting is coming from me?
Of course, as everyone else is saying this week, it would be cool if your posts:
• Had authentic substance to them.
• Provided some sort of useful and actionable information.
• Have some of your voice attached.
But use the tools available to you. I didn’t know any of this em dash stuff before. I used google instead ChatGPT.
1. Because the carbon footprint of AI is rough and we’re gonna need to talk about that some time soon.
2. Because I don’t trust the robots to tell me the truth about their precious dash.
Anyway, hope we all learned something today.
Tune in next week for “Affect vs. Effect” ✌️
#WritingTips #AIandMe #TheMoreYouKnow 🌈 🌟
