zlacker

[return to "Show HN: Hacker News em dash user leaderboard pre-ChatGPT"]
1. rasse+q5[view] [source] 2025-08-30 05:10:45
>>tkgall+(OP)
How about en dash usage? Has that been used as a similar false indicator?
◧◩
2. thomas+N9[view] [source] 2025-08-30 06:18:09
>>rasse+q5
OpenAI’s o3 was big on en dashes—one time it produced a Deep Research result containing >200 of them. I’m not aware of any other LLM using them commonly, though. I’d guess humans use them even less often; I don’t think Apple auto-inserts en dashes, and very few people (myself being one) are pedantic enough to bother.

On the other hand, I don’t think o3 was ever a common choice among people copying from LLMs, so en dashes remain infrequent regardless.

◧◩◪
3. aspect+3e[view] [source] 2025-08-30 07:18:23
>>thomas+N9
In German en dashes are more common than em dashes. I’ve been using them regularly for at least 20 years, both in German and English texts. I never liked it when people just threw in ordinary hyphen instead of an en dash, but few people note the difference.
◧◩◪◨
4. JimDab+Wh[view] [source] 2025-08-30 08:05:06
>>aspect+3e
Yes, this is regional – British usage tends to be an en dash surrounded by spaces, where American usage tends to be an em dash with no spaces.
◧◩◪◨⬒
5. lostlo+dj[view] [source] 2025-08-30 08:23:16
>>JimDab+Wh
All this has me thinking. Is the em-dash like an accent for machines?
[go to top]