You literally can just long press the normal hyphen on the iOS keyboard, probably similar in Android

So, you saw an em dash in a sentence and immediately screamed “AI!”? Hold up. That long, dramatic line — yeah, that one — has been around way before ChatGPT slid into your DMs. Writers have been using em dashes for centuries to spice things up, create vibes, and break the rules in the coolest way possible.

Here’s the tea: the em dash is a tool, not a tell. Just because an AI uses it doesn’t mean it’s some secret signature. You know who else uses em dashes? Literally every author who’s ever wanted to sound clever, casual, or just a little chaotic.

So next time you spot an em dash, don’t panic. It’s punctuation, not a personality test.

  • KobaCumTribute [she/her]@hexbear.netEnglish
    5·
    3 days ago

    I see it used in books pretty often, presumably because the text editors used for those have autocorrects for special characters like that and the ellipses character.

    • quarrk [he/him]@hexbear.netOPEnglish
      5·
      3 days ago

      I was taught all the dashes in school along with all the other punctuation. Didn’t realize this was arcane knowledge. I also see them in books and other edited literature all the time. It is not obscure at all