• dukemirage@lemmy.world
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    3 months ago

    While the post might of course be generated, it’s a bit stupid that the use of dashes has become something of a (useless) shibboleth. It’s a valid typographical feature with distinct use cases and has been used for centuries. It’s fallen out of style lately, but it’s usage is quite in character for a 84 yo intellectual. The quote marks are also not weird, and if the post would have used bullet points instead of paragraphs for structure, you’d probably would have mentioned that, too.

    • deHaga@feddit.uk
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      3 months ago

      Yea, scientists like to write papers and use the fancy em dash, most people don’t even know how to type one. Alt + 151 on the number pad? No idea on a phone

      It’s also formatted in the exact way chatgpt does its mind numbingly shit one pagers

      • sunbeam60@feddit.uk
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        3 months ago

        Many writing tools automatically transform dash to em dash when used as an em dash.

      • Nalivai@lemmy.world
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        3 months ago

        On my setup two dashes become an m-dash. On my phone it’s a long press.
        It’s actually very easy, If you don’t know something doesn’t mean most people don’t

      • Übercomplicated@lemmy.ml
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        3 months ago

        Em dashes are considered informal, I have had several professors scold me for using them in academic writing. Like contractions.

    • webghost0101@sopuli.xyz
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      3 months ago

      I like to use dashes myself but the combination of overuse with other tells often does make me suspicious.

      Which isn’t bad, even an intellectual can write things wrong, as ai can also write things right. Always read critically.

      I didn’t think dashes where out of place here, but i did get a real ai vibe of the last paragraph. Is this something Bernie is really considering or is something to round up a generated list of scary scenarios. (Which are all existing valid concerns still)