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1. reaper+(OP)[view] [source] 2025-08-31 04:20:52
That's backwards. People in that age bracket grew up with computers where the em dash was not in the character set at all, and typewriters and terminals only had a minus key.

I guess you weren't there. We did em-dashes on typewriters. We just turned the platen knob down one click, typed _, and turned it back.

replies(2): >>ted_du+Z2 >>npsoma+a3
2. ted_du+Z2[view] [source] 2025-08-31 05:11:51
>>reaper+(OP)
None of us at our house did that.
replies(1): >>reaper+4x
3. npsoma+a3[view] [source] 2025-08-31 05:14:29
>>reaper+(OP)
Anecdotally, what I've seen is that folks who learned typing in the 80s and earlier use two dashes '--' instead of the em-dash (although modern word processors seem to replace this combination with the em-dash). Something else I've noticed is their tendency to use two blank spaces between sentences.

I'm a self-taught typist, with all the quirks that comes with (can type programming stuff very accurately at a 100+ WPM; can type normal stuff at a high WPM as well, but the error rate goes up).

replies(1): >>Breza+UTe
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4. reaper+4x[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-08-31 11:36:43
>>ted_du+Z2
That doesn't mean it didn't happen. Your house is not the only house.

Moreover, your home is not representative of the millions of typewriters in businesses around the world.

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5. Breza+UTe[view] [source] [discussion] 2025-09-05 12:13:27
>>npsoma+a3
I learned to type in the nineties and I used two hyphens. I also learned to put two spaces between sentences but dropped that in the oughts.
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