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. ascorb+Qs[view] [source] 2025-08-30 10:28:27
>>thomas+N9
They're very easy to type on a Mac though (opt+-). I've always used spaced en dashes without realising that that is the more common British style. Unspaced em dashes just look wrong to me.
[go to top]