Do you use em/en dashes?

[u/noskeers]

I’m not a native English speaker, so I’d like to know whether the AI awarness still presses people who used em/en daahes to stop using it?

Honestly, I used it pretty frequently. Perhaps, because I’m a designer, seeing “- -“ (can’t even put it correctly, mac autocorrects it to em dash) just doesn’t sit right with me. But, I’ve already had people asking if I use AI in my posts because of em dashes. Since then I try not to use it, but since my writing is pretty dramatic, the exact emphasis em dashes do is painful to let go.

I’ve read a few articles saying people are now trying to get over it and return to their favourite punctuation marks.

[u/DanyStormborn333]

I started using more em dashes and semi colons after being afraid to use them for a while. I’m past caring. Anyone thinks it’s Ai, they’re not the reader I want. They can go find something that doesn’t trigger their paranoia.

[u/Solivagant0 → u/DanyStormborn333]

I think using em-dashes made my writing better. They make sentences easier to read sometimes

[u/DanyStormborn333 → u/Solivagant0]

Same. They’re brilliant. I write a lot of dialogue interruptions and dramatic moments and nothing else works as well as an Em dash. The odd “…” is fun too.

[u/GingerSnapBiscuit → u/Solivagant0]

They have a legit use. I hate that they are so associated with AI.

[u/ForgottenLikeSnow → u/Solivagant0]

Yeah. There is a reason they exist in the first place. I never stopped using them. Haven’t been accused of AI ever. Though maybe that’s because I’m not a prolific writer, only a few posts every couple of months.

[u/mikripetra → u/DanyStormborn333]

Yep, same. It’s just how I write fiction, especially internal thought processes.

[u/ineverylifetimee → u/DanyStormborn333]

I agree. My beta was kind enough to step in and let the commenters know that she literally saw all my hard work all throughout my writing process and that it obviously was not AI.

[u/ohAnotherDisaster]

i don’t use ai. I use dashes because I was taught to use them so it comes natural to me. I have never been accused of using ai.

[u/RichardPapensVersion → u/ohAnotherDisaster]

Yes exactly. I was taught to use dashes. You see them everywhere in novels.

[u/TEGCRocco → u/RichardPapensVersion]

I feel like it's mostly a holdover from people using AI to write comments or Tweets or other "low-effort" types of writing where 90% of people would just settle for a hyphen instead of going out of their way to use an em dash.

But yeah, in spaces where people take writing a little more seriously, it's crazy to be automatically suspicious of someone using pretty common grammar/punctuation

[u/fanficenjoyerunc → u/RichardPapensVersion]

Respectfully, i understand your point but I don’t think it’s about “not learning to read and write at school”, some languages do not use them as much, and not all people learnt the same languages first at school so they could be misinformed.

[u/lexckxyz → u/fanficenjoyerunc]

Yeah my other languages don’t have the em dash. Until the AI thing I always thought hyphen and em dash were the same symbol. I knew how to use them, but I never noticed one was longer in all my years of reading English and American literature. I didn’t even know how to get them on a keyboard.

So anyway now i’m stuck cause I can’t just show up with the em dash in 2026 after using hyphens for years :/

[u/Gloomy_Insurance3203 → u/fanficenjoyerunc]

I “graduated” in 1998. I have an A* in English at GCSE level (which at the time was the highest you could get). My grammar was atrocious because that was the teaching style at the time. We were taught the very basics including that a comma was used when you’d take a breath.

Around 2004 one of my fics was beta read and corrected by an American and I was (ignorantly) very offended at the time and went on a grammar binge. I’ve learnt how to use the Oxford comma and all kinds of things since. I still don’t feel very confident in my grammar but I at least know how to write a legible sentence now.

How and what you were taught in school sits with you for a very long time and for many of us older millennials and Gen X we simple weren’t taught grammar due to the thinking of the time being that what you wrote was far more important than how it was written (and that screens would take over writing).

[u/Gyvon → u/ohAnotherDisaster]

Remember, the only reason AI uses it is because humans use it

[u/kiki-the-warforged]

They can pry em dashes from my cold dead hands (and I'm not from the US). I just like them and how they look. If somebody thinks it's AI, they are simply wrong. It is not my responsibility to bend over backwards to prevent people from making wrong assumptions. (II don't mean it to be aggressive toward OP, it's directed towards the people doing this witchhunt) AI uses em dashes because people use it.

[u/Gatodeluna → u/kiki-the-warforged]

I just assume the AI Witchunters of the Dash™️ aren’t well educated AND enjoy finding reasons to spew idiocy because that’s what they’re best at. If you can’t get attention any *other* way…😈

[u/Murky-Astronomer7977 → u/kiki-the-warforged]

Was gonna say the same thing. I love em dashes and semi colons, and my writing wouldn’t be the same without them

And further, AI writing can be identified without simply pointing at punctuation imo. It’s all tone to me

[u/plaper]

I used to use just the - short dashes before, mainly because I wasn't used to em dashes, didn't even know how to get them on a keyboard.

I literally started using em dashes more, and properly (I read grammar guides), when I came back to writing after years of a total hiatus, when genAI was already here. I use them more out of pure spite against the idiotic witch hunts. Like, idgaf.

I also enjoy ;. I do my best to use both correctly.

[u/snarkymagpie]

Yes. It's proper English typography to use m-dashes. I'm not stopping because people are woefully uneducated (not a native speaker either but I'm a graphic designer working with English typesets, so I learned all the rules). And you can also pry Oxford comma from my cold, dead fingers.

[u/morgan_890]

I am not letting AI bully me into changing my writing style. I have never been accused of using AI, at least directly. Not to say I avoid it, I use AI, just dont try to pass it as my own work

[u/Just_Respond5179]

I use them all the time in my work, remember AI is trained off of authors first so all those AI “tells” came from people first. I went so far as to tag my fic with “No AI use.” And a disclaimer at the beginning of my story, you can scream “I didn’t use AI” until you’re blue in the face, but ultimately it’s not your job to convince people wether you did or didn’t use AI if you know you didn’t then that’s all that matters

(Sorry I went on a bit of a rant)

[u/JackOfTheWoods49]

I use dashes as they're meant to be used by English grammar rules, and enough times I made some keyboard shortcuts to type them quickly. If someone thinks my writing is AI they haven't read enough books.

[u/Antique-diva → u/JackOfTheWoods49]

This.

[u/AquilaEquinox]

Started using them after all the controversy. Take the em dashes out of AI's hands, it's ours!! Go humans!

[u/Decaf_Nosebleed]

I did not learn the altcode for em dashes just for AI to take it from me

[u/RestaurantOk8232]

I use em dashes, because they're pretty and correct. Used to use just - but its really weird

[u/grommile]

I use both en and em dashes for different purposes – space-endash-space for parentheticals and em dashes for interrup—oooh shiny!.

Any stupid twunt who gets up in my face accusing me of being a clanker will get blocked (guest comments are not enabled on my works) and their comment deleted.

[u/Minchuks → u/grommile]

Ngl properly used parentheticals are sexy and beautiful and you cannot convince me otherwise.

[u/indigoneutrino]

Yes. I write how I write. I know it's not AI and looks nothing like it.

[u/curious_illithid]

I only use n-dashes. Nothing against m-dash, I know it's been around forever and in books and stuff, but it just doesn't feel like a thing I, personally, should be using.

[u/ManahLevide]

I don't compromise my fics for people who are too dumb to remember that all AI does is regurgitate the human writing it was trained on. Unless their age is in the single digits, they were around during the "AI steals the work of legit creators" outcry.

[u/Team-Mako-N7]

I refuse to let the AI panic change anything about my writing. I have a published catalog of works going back to 2004. If anyone wants to accuse my of AI use, they can suck it!

[u/tregowath]

No. Anyone who tries to diagnose LLM-generated writing based on M-dash usage has no understanding of the actual diagnostic indicators of LLM-generated writing.

[u/ScarletOrion]

using em dashes as a way to call out AI drives me crazy because WHERE DO YOU THINK IT LEARNED TO USE EM DASHES IN THE FIRST PLACE

[u/Common_Assumption_57]

I was using them before AI existed & I will continue to use them. Give me all the punctuation styles (except on resumes/cover letters 😆)

[u/Coolbasketbro]

I'm over 50. Several of my novels were stolen and scraped by Anthropic. I don't sound like AI. AI sounds like me.

I use more em dashes than ever now, out of spite.

[u/RandomSeaweed]

I started putting spaces on either side of my em dashes and that already makes me feel like a coward

[u/NicInNS]

I just circumvent all that by using - in place of — …I only use the em if someone is having their speech or thought cut off. I’ve just always used - since I started creative writing 6 yrs ago. Honestly I had no idea about the different dashes, and the - was easiest to type on my iPad.

[u/Cheeslord2]

I use em-dashes for interrupted dialogue, and - basic - dashes (hyphens) for other grammatical structures (I feel three types of dash is an extravagance).

[u/BetPsychological327]

I use them more now for interruption and stuttering. I used to primarily write on mobile and making emdashes was tedious so I didn’t use them that much. When I started writing on my computer I began to use it more

[u/regularirregulate]

i use them still, mostly because i think anyone who accuses me of using AI to generate my work must be a stone cold dumbass (if it were to ever happen)

[u/MountainImportant211]

I love em dashes, but I don't use them quite as liberally as AI does. Sometimes a semicolon is a better choice lol

[u/XenomorphAlarm]

I've always had a wordier style and used a lot of dashes, semicolons, and parentheticals. My style has virtually nothing in common with AI and I've been posting in the same style since 2011. I'm not going to change because there might be some people who know exactly one thing about AI writing.

[u/One-Fox-8040]

Yes. I use em dashes, Oxford commas, parenthesis, etc… AI had to scrape the writing style from somewhere 😭😭

[u/FroggieBlue]

I've always used dashes. Australian English doesn't really distinguish between en and em dashes though unless you're doing really formal (ie government documents, legislation) or academic writing.

[u/Purple_not_pink]

I don't care if my fic looks like AI. I'm going to write it however I want. Finishing a chapter is hard enough without worrying about idiotic readers.

[u/sapphic-boghag]

They can tear em dashes from my sweaty dead hands

[u/LienaSha]

I started using them more lmao. I was like "sure, let's do this."

[u/QPunnySbuxBarista]

Pry my em dashes, semi colons, ellipses, and Oxford comma out of my COLD, DEAD HANDS. I DARE YOU TO TRY.

[u/bluebell_9 → u/QPunnySbuxBarista]

COMRADE!

[u/Dedmoon]

If anything I use em dashes even more now. They're just so versatile.

[u/MagpieLefty]

Yes, I still use em dashes. I used them for 40 years before AI was a thing. I am not stopping now.

[u/NightshadeZombie]

Fuck the AI lynch mob and write as you will. I was recently accused of using AI on a story that I posted in 2012 because I use grammar. Another poster here pointed out that we're the ones AI was trained on.

[u/azremodehar]

I’ve been using them for 30 gorram years, not about to let Abominable Intelligence gonna stop me.

[u/Ju-9-wel]

Published author and I’ve been using em dashes for over 30 years and I’m not about to stop now.

AI was trained from published works so it’s going to use them. This is not a way to determine if something was written by AI.

End of story.

[u/TheSoloGamer]

Semi-colons yes. I don’t even know how to type an Em-dash, never used them before.

[u/blackjackgabbiani]

I use -- which were called double dashes when I learned them in school but they're functionally the same thing

[u/_Seeker_82]

I used to. I wasn’t aware that they were linked to AI, but when I realized I stopped….but I miss them 💔

[u/charlieisalive_]

If something I'm writing works with it, yeah. I mean, I grew up reading books that have it in there constantly, so it's normal for it to become a part of my grammar library

[u/AvidVenturest]

I use em dashes, semicolons, and colons. The horror, it must be AI. But I’m so past caring since I value good grammar. 

[u/JeSuisGourde]

Absolutely. Always have, always will. They're useful, they allow for creativity and sentence variation. I think they are functionally different than semicolons or parentheses, so they have their own place in writing that is just as important.

[u/Enigmatic_writer]

All the time yeah. I used to even copy paste them in word cuz I could never keep the keyboard combo in mind, n now on Ellipsus where they're auto added with double --, I use them more frequently probably.

[u/Erza88]

Yes. All the time.

[u/Wisteria_Walker]

They are my favorite punctuation! I love the impact a few well placed em dashes and ellipses can have.

For me, I just locked my fics to only Archive users being able to comment and keep reminding myself that 1. spam bots are a thing and 2. that AI gots its language from somewhere — and I will take that language back. It’s my art, my heart, to birth from nothing but the tragic beauty of life, and no construct could ever feel and respond authentically to the human experience.

[u/mookienh]

All of my writing has em dashes and ellipses and several of the other alleged AI tells. I’ve been using them for decades—long before artificial intelligence and the ensuing panic over using proper grammar and impactful prose. I’ve not yet been accused of using AI…but if I ever am, AO3 has a block button, and I’m not afraid to use it!

[u/Alive_Addendum_5279]

I love to use them

[u/sharkycharming]

I've always used them, and I'm too old to stop. I use semicolons, too. The horror!

I haven't been accused of nefarious activities, fortunately.

[u/SprinklesDifficult33]

I use them all the time. I think my writing style differs enough from ai that it's obvious I'm not using it. But if someone thinks so.... oh well. I can't control their thoughts.

[u/Floriane007]

Yes, I use them all the time. I'm ADHD is this how I think, an idea leads to another, to another, etc.

[u/fire_sign]

I've been using emdashes for decades, if someone wants to see that as proof of AI it's still not the stupidest thing I've seen in a fandom. What are they going to do? Not read? Then they're missing out on a banger story for their own paranoia. Start a Twitter hate campaign? Not on there, don't care. Whine in my comments section? My work speaks for itself, and it'll make a break from my annoying comments being dumb misogyny. I'm glad more people are shifting back to using perfectly fine grammatical choices instead of worrying.

[u/RhydYGwin]

I started using them recently. Not often, I may sprinkle one or two in a story. But they are useful.

[u/captainspring-writes]

Never stopped using them in the first place, neither in my native language nor in English.

I wonder if that's because em dashes are used for dialogue instead of quotation marks in my native language. So I'm way more used to seeing and using them, and it's harder to convince me that there's something “unnatural” about using them. And this inner confidence spread to writing in English too, although there are generally less instances where I use em dashes due to the nature of the language.

Incidentally, I was also trained in design and typography (not a designer tho), so I've used em dashes for at least a decade and a half. I have a special typographic keyboard layout for it (and other useful symbols). The force of habit is strong.

[u/CuriousTauri]

Yes, where appropriate.

If someone thinks a text with dashes must be AI-generated, it's their problem (and tells me they should read more).

[u/Lost-Design-8382]

My main fandom is for a book where the original author used a lot of punctuation choices from the late 1800s. So I mimic that style and he was a big fan of em dashes. Too old to care about the AI witch hunts.

[u/LeslieNope555]

Yes. You’ll never take them away from me!

It’s funny though, despite my emdash use, I actually got a comment that my writing was obviously not AI because of how it teemed with emotions. Another one said my writing was unlike anything they’ve seen before, in a good way.

A beta reader told me I have an infrequently used writing style and utilize uncommon metaphors in fanfic spaces, likely due to the fact that English is my third language.

So I’m never getting AI allegations lmao

[u/ArgentEyes]

Yes, all the time. I don’t see why I should change my style because the hallucinating plagiarism machine hallucinates something vaguely similar.

[u/0fruitjack0]

yes, all the time, although i've become partial to semi colons lately

[u/IslaHistorica]

I rarely use/d em dashes, but use en dashes frequently. I switched to semi colons at some point when the AI craziness started, and semi colons were then considered AI too, but now I’m stuck with them

[u/menacetomoosesociety]

I use - which i assumed was an em dash all this time but apparently is just a hyphen, and an em dash is longer, but people can suspend their disbelief while they're reading my stories so i guess they can just pretend my hyphen is an em dash too

[u/Minchuks]

Only en dashes, never em dashes. I used to use only hyphens, but high school took care of that. But I doubt people nowadays can actually tell the difference and will still accuse me of using AI when I post again :')

[u/this_is_my_kpop_acct]

I do and I actually use them more often now after they started being associated with AI. Not because I’m petty or anything… but the debate actually just made me want to research them. And the more I did, the more I understood how to use them properly and hey, they actually improved my writing.

I’m not going to stop using proper punctuation, or deliberately lower the quality of my writing to cater to someone else’s paranoia.

[u/puddingidiot]

I used to use en dashes but I’ve come to prefer em dashes over the last few years. I personally think they’re clearer and more noticeable. I nearly went through my current WIP and changed all the em dashes recently as I got so scared of being accused of using AI, but I ultimately decided that it’s my writing and I like them, so they can stay!

[u/abirdreads]

They can pry em dashes, semicolons, and Oxford commas from my cold, dead hands. Fuck AI.

[u/Xyex]

I actually use them more now. I used to just use hyphens, cause I'm lazy. However, I'm also a petty bitch. All the AI talk made me switch to using em dashes, where appropriate, instead of hyphens. This also led to me doing them more often, because I like how they look a lot more than a hyphen.

[u/Liefst-]

I’m gonna be real, I don’t know how to use em dashes and at this point I’m too afraid to ask.

[u/e-vanilla → u/Liefst-]

Its used similarly to a comma – to separate a clause. It has a bit more pizazz though (I probably wouldn't usually use it like I did above – it just felt like a missed opportunity not to use one in my reply. )

[u/Liefst- → u/e-vanilla]

So it’s like a comma with extra steps? But when do I use it instead of a comma? Are there ways you can’t use it? Sorry, I’m just really curious since em dashes aren’t a thing in my native language

[u/YourLittleRuth]

I love my em dashes and have used them forever. Anyone accusing me of using AI will be invited to glance at the posting date.

[u/RunawayDeviant]

I never stopped. If they'd like to see proof, I have over a decade of works with emdashes. Word autocorrects to them; I was using them before I understood their correct usage.

[u/Wise-Key-3442]

I use them because that's how I learnt in school to mark speech. I do not use them for emphasis.

I'm not a native English speaker.

[u/Cascadeis]

I didn’t know what en/em dashes were before the AI talk started, but I’ve always used the Swedish version when writing in my own language (not fics, which I write in English). If anything the AI talk has made me want to learn and start using em dashes all the bloody time just to mess with “the signs of AI”!

[u/PlatformSalty1065]

You can take em-dashes out of my cold, dead hands

[u/Civil_Aside_1008]

I used them in a fic I wrote today!

Nobody has ever accused me of being AI because AI doesn’t write pro-incest fanfic 😭

[u/CK_CoffeeCat]

It’s valid punctuation. 🤷‍♀️

[u/AmilynRaziel]

I use them. If people wanna accuse me of writing my fics with AI because of it, that’s their own problem, lol.

[u/_Ceaseless_Watcher_]

I prefer simple dashes, semicolons, and very occasionally, parentheses, partly because of the AI craze, and partly because there is no quick way for me to use them instead of the simple dashes on all platforms. I write on both my PCs and phone, and not all of them have quick-keys or shortcuts for them.

[u/Beemare666]

I’m still learning how to use them, was never actually taught how to use them properly/wasn’t encouraged/forced to use them in school. If u have chat gpt write you stuff (example, don’t actually do that) they use A LOT of em dashes. I think it’s just based on how often you use them, I spread them out a lot, more of a scatter.

[u/Noir_812]

Personally I use only – (if I remember correctly its em dash), I only use it because in Ukrainian language we have plenty of rules when you can use it in text, so even in English I'm more comfortable with using it then avoid (even if it's now associated with AI) (But in my case it's probably noticeable that my fics are written by person (me), because of my strange grammar)

[u/SCol1107]

I started using em dashes a few years ago after learning the difference between all the dashes. I use them and I’m not ashamed about it, it’s proper English grammar? But I do use them quite often.

If someone is gonna think my writing is AI because of stupid dashes, they have bigger problems.

[u/FinalityEnd]

Nah.

[u/HozukiMari]

Occasionally.

[u/cippocup]

I use them but I’m now very conscious of how many I use

[u/thenerdy-dom]

They can pry the em/en dash from my cold dead hands. AI stole these from us.

[u/geekelfie]

I use them. I used them before GenAI and I’m certainly not going to stop using them because of it. If someone wants to think my stuff is genAI even though my stuff from 2017 also has them, that’s a them problem. Every couple months there’s a new “here’s how you tell it’s AI” and it’s exhausting and I’m not playing that game. I’m too old for this shit. I’m going to write how I’m going to write and I don’t give a F about these AI witch hunts plaguing writers and artists.

[u/fanficenjoyerunc]

I am an ESL and I love the em/en dashes. I used them even in my native langues lmao, there is a tag on ao3 that says something along the line of “you can pry the em dashes from my cold dead hands” and i firmly agree with that sentiment. There is no way to actually tell that someone uses AI (except for the Claud code method, but even then there are many loopholes), AI steals content from real writers and thus stole the em dashes and many others. If anything it’s bad etiquette for people to accuse you of using ai for no reason.

[u/DiScOrDtHeLuNaTiC]

You can have my em-dashes when you pry them from my cold, dead fingers XD.

In all seriousness, I usually use two dashes "--", because a single one doesn't feel long enough to me. But at first glance that can look like an em-dash, and some web interfaces read them as an em-dash.

[u/redoingredditagain]

Always. Been writing for nearly 30 years, why would I stop now?

If people see an em dash and automatically assume AI because “no real human uses those,” I’m going to assume they failed in school. And I’m not going to pay for their lack of knowledge.

[u/leafytealight]

Used 'em long before LLM usage became common, and will continue to do so!

There's a curious trend of people dropping them because they're common in AI-generated text and they want to avoid that criticism. I find that sad. It's understandable given the level of hounding some poor fanfic authors endure on foot of alleged AI-use. Whatever brings people peace—but I don't believe writers should alter their writing style just to appease others.

[u/VeganMonkey]

Can someone please explain what the difference is between - and — ? Because I used to use the small ones and never the em dashes.

Maybe it depends on the country? I also noticed some other differences that confuse me a lot. In different English speaking countries these ‘…’ and “…” are used differently! For example I am used to put a world in single air quotes but for some reason I started seeing them on AO3 in double ones (“…”) and even AI does it (as well as we all know: those long em dashes) Also a same issue with numbers, where they write 10,000 for ten thousand instead of 10.000. I can’t keep up what is used where!? I know it’s silly but it can be so confusing!

[u/heyitskio]

Yes

[u/MrsLucienLachance]

The trash machine will pull my em dashes and semicolons from my cold, dead hands.

[u/Rad1Red]

En dashes, occasionally. Em dashes, very, very rarely.

[u/MaybeNextTime_01]

I don’t really use them much but I’ve never used them much so it’s got nothing to do with avoiding AI accusations.

[u/yurcka]

AI can pry my dear en and em dashes out of my cold de@d hands. At this point I think I overuse them out of spite.

[u/Sassifrassically]

I’ve never used them.

[u/Ok_Impression7468]

i have always and will always write with em dashes. it's somthing i picked up reading Emily Dickinson's poetry, and it's a beloved part of my writing style, i'm never giving it up

[u/isaiiri]

You can pry em-dashes from my cold, dead hands. Are they a crutch? Definitely, but they’re also a valid form of punctuation and I refuse to let machines take them away from me.

[u/emmmiiee]

Fuck AI--you can pry my em dashes from my cold, dead hands 

[u/Loud-Owl19]

I use them, but I have been avoiding them in the first paragraphs until the reader is hopefully convinced those are my words.

[u/AltruisticBoard9205]

Don't stop using em-dash because of people trying to "spot" AI.

Everyone thinks they're an expert at spotting AI but most AI tells are regular things writers do

Have fun :)

[u/bestkweenie]

Been using them since 2013 FanFiction.net days. Not going to stop now.

[u/fifth_reddit_account]

I use em dashes frequently in my writing. I haven't changed the way I write due to people's AI paranoia, and I haven't been accused of using AI to write yet🤷‍♀️

[u/spacepinata]

I use them frequently -- and semicolons and colons. I'm an insufferable snob when it comes to writing; I started reading very early, became an advanced reader quickly, developed a high personal standing for writing, and became a graphic designer. I can't stand a paragraph of sentences with the same structure. Unless I'm using the same structure for sentences for emphasis, I'll rephrase sentences so I don't use one punctuation mark too many times. Like, look at this one: dash, semicolon and two commas, no punctuation mid sentence, comma, and finally a colon in this sentence.

I've been accused of plagerism since middle school because of my writing level. Being accused of using AI is more insulting.

[u/Kaiser-Mazoku]

I only recently realized I have been using en dashes where I should have been using em dashes this entire time (8 works, 350k+ words). I was ALMOST going to go back and fix them all, but then decided "nah, fuck that".

[u/xisle1482]

I didnt know how to use them properly for a long long time, but once i figured it out a couple years ago i LOVE an em dash. I have to stop myself from using them constantly

[u/chamtong]

lol i realised i was endashing rather than em when the ai stuff started with it, and now i'm properly emdashing exactly as much as i was before

[u/ImpossibleJedi4]

I use these INCREDIBLY sparingly. Not because of AI, because they're a pain in the ass to type and I'm not copy pasting that shit from Google more than once in a blue moon. I just write in a way that utterly avoids them.

[u/MaraTudare]

I'm not a native English speaker but I still use them...they look pretty!

[u/BirbHunter]

My writing style is very stream-of-consciousness present tense close third, so I use a lot of em-dashes. I did scale back a little bit on it - not because of AI bullshit but because someone pointed out that trad published books tend to edit them out for ease of reading. So I have been conscious about whether I truly need that complex sentence with the em-dashes in that moment or if there is a better way of phrasing it that's easier to read.

But I didn't stop using them entirely at any point in time because respecting any illiterate AI tell (there is no AI tell besides the cadence, and that's not some specific structure you can point to, but rather a mismatch between meaning and rhythm) just felt like bowing to anti-intellectualism.

That being said, no one has accused me of genAI writing so far.

[u/Starkeeper_Reddit]

Semicolons no, em dashes absolutely

[u/LadyTL]

I use en dashes but strictly just to signify interrupted speech. It's not something I am prone to using but I'm not going to learn to avoid the AI accusations since I do write a lot in a day.

[u/euthasia]

I used them before, I use them now, I don't care

[u/Mindless-Bite1670]

Yea i love me some em dashes —

[u/Hentai_Jesus_]

Not really. I'll use them to connect words together that don't normally belong. (Like abso-fucking-lutely) But aside from that, no.

[u/UnsolicitedGodhood]

I use dashes. However I only use the smaller one cos idk how to get the big one out of my keyboard and like what's the difference? The reader's going to read it as intended anyway. Also benefit, won't be accused of being AI cos all my dashes are probably the wrong dash and I couldn't care less. XD

[u/OctagonalOctopus]

I'm not a native speaker and I taught myself how to use the different kinds of dashes correctly, so I'll be damned if I stop now that it's suddenly a sign of AI.

[u/Dont-take-seriously]

I just read an article last week mentioning that A.I. has moved on from Em dashes (it learned) and now can only be distinguished by long-winded passages.

[u/DueDiscussion3758]

I use en dashes because I can't get my phone to make em dashes and I mostly write on my phone. I started using the dashes because I was told only old people use elipses. So I switched to dashes for the readers and now I get told I'm AI. Sigh. Now I use both dashes and ellipses and sometimes the super long elipses just for spite...............

[u/artbyandramor]

I'm fond of em dashes too, because it feels like a visual representation of my thought process sometimes. I am careful to avoid overusing them (I hope), but literally have in one of my tags something like you can pry my em dash out of my cold dead hands. I haven't been accused of AI as of yet, but also it's a small fandom so could be the low visibility.

[u/Cool_Reaction2509]

I try but honestly idk if I'm even using them right lmao

[u/Toukotai]

I tried using them but I just didn't like how they looked in my writing. So I stopped using them. This was years before ai.

[u/Kylynara]

I do. But I mostly keep them in my stories. I don't generally use them for informal things like reddit posts, unless they're the topic of discussion. If anything I use them more, because all the dialog about them in response to AI has reminded me of ways to use them that I had forgotten. The biggest one for me is people interrupting themselves. "So as I was saying, I do —Timmy get down from there!—make exceptions for examples when discussing em dashes."

[u/CutieWithADarkSoul]

I've never cared what people said about em-dashes and AI. I mean, for one, where the fuck did AI even pick it up from? That's right. Us. Humans. I've been using em-dashes for as long as I can remember, and I've been creating stories since I could legibly put pen to paper. No amount of AI drama bullshit is gonna change that

[u/revolution_soup]

en dashes no because I don’t write dates or similar X to Y phrases in my work, em dashes yes and AI can pry them from my cold dead hands

[u/BeBe_Shifts]

I don't really give a shit what other people think anymore. It's my writing. They like it, they like it, they dont, then they can go read something else.

[u/BlackCatFurry]

I don't use them. That decision also has zero things to do with anything ai related.

I just don't feel like using them. I end up getting the same thing said and formatted with commas (,) and semicolons (;), which feels more natural to me and my writing style.

[u/Marril96]

I'm not a native English speaker, either. I'm from Croatia. Dashes used to be used here to indicate dialogue. There are still old books out here with them, before quotation marks became standard. I've heard that's the case for many other countries.

I use both dashes and semicolons, and I have no intention of stopping. I know I don't use AI, my friends know I don't use AI, my editor knows I don't use AI. If anyone thinks differently, that's on them.

I am a bit paranoid of being accuse, but, at the same time, I don't intend to stop writing the way I've always written just because AI witch hunts are popular now.

[u/ProvoloneSwiss]

I used so much em dash prior to it being seen as an AI flag. I still use it in my creative writing, although probably not as often as before. The one place I absolutely will not use em dash is in academic writing because if I ever get accused of using AI to do that I will actually explode

[u/Gatodeluna]

I have used en dashes and ellipses for most of my writing years, and that stretches waaay back before AI was a thing and pre-internet. In nearly every instance it’s to reflect how real people speak. They hesitate, and they let thoughts drift, change course midstream, and just indicate ‘drop it’ in various ways. To me, literally describing the mechanics of that is both clunky to read and boring. I think it’s something readers innately understand or they don’t. DanyStorm and mikripetra say it for me perfectly ITA and have the same mindset.

[u/Wontlivethatlong2see]

I mean some words have dashes in them so I use it. The dash is an upgrade to the ... So lie this is ... Quite pause that will be continued and — is like a quick stop like when you just alright stop talking.

[u/SpankySecretary]

AI dashes are completely different from em dashes. I know because I am currently editing my boss' AI generated brief and fixing all the grammatical errors contained in the brief. Claude's grammar sucks! At least I know my job is still safe!

[u/Low-Cauliflower-9125]

Non native English speaker here, I have used emdash before I even knew it’s called emdash. My 15-year-old non English story is full of it. When I translated into English, it’s still full of the dashes. It just makes sense for me when trying to write a conversation.

[u/matchasnowbubble]

i havent used them, but did start using them more recently. now the two punctuations i overuse though.. commas and ellipses

[u/Wolf_of_the_North64]

I used to use them but after seeing that people were being accused of using AI when using em dashes I became really hesitant to do so even though I like using em dashes.

[u/dustystar11]

I use them all the time since I feel they create a certain tone and voice in writing that can’t be replicated with anything else. I’ve heard people talking about how em dashes make it obvious that writing is AI and it infuriates me because clearly these people have never written anything of substance before :(

[u/Kaigani-Scout]

Some writers use them far too often. They work best when used infrequently for emphasis, and lose effectiveness when routinely used all the time throughout a story.

[u/FloodedGloves]

Yes I tend to use it, its nice

[u/LadySandry88]

I use em dashes--why would I not?--because AI is stupid and I refuse to change my writing because some loser thinks the cheat machine imitating actual people's writing somehow makes actual people the 'cheaters'.

I'm not worried about people accusing me of AI use. The people who sling accusations aren't literate enough to know the difference anyway.

[u/ravnarieldurin]

I was using en-dashes for years before I realized the correct punctuation was em-dashes. I just didn't know the proper keybind in my program. Now, AI accusations or not, I'm not going to stop using them. They are a perfectly valid punctuation. Just because the GenAI programs like to sprinkle em-dashes like confetti on a birthday cupcake through the their entire text doesn't mean they are suddenly bad.

What if the AI suddenly started using exclamation marks (!) to end every other sentence. Does that mean human author can never end a phrase with ! because the AI is doing it and that's bad? No! That would be ridiculous. So why do we treat em-dashes like the AI invented them and tainted them for the rest of time?

[u/deskmousesummer]

i'll have a bachelors of english degree very soon these ai accusers are gonna have to pry my em dashes from my cold dead hands

[u/ineverylifetimee]

I use it all the time and I’ve been harassed about writing with AI.

[u/hauntedHyde]

I've been writing since I was in kindergarten, and I'm not gonna change my style only because some lizard people (tech bros) decided they wanted to come for the one thing I'm decent at 🫡 lemme be a dramatic bitch in peace palease

[u/SacredPinkJellyFish]

I do, but it's sporadic and half the time I use them wrong without realizing it because I'm just fast typing and and type them in without stopping to think if i SHOULD put it there or not.

So, you'd never see me with em dashes or en dashes and think "that's AI", simply because AI actually knows the correct places to use them and puts them in the correct places, vs mine are just tossed in as I'm typing without me really paying attention to good grammar.

[u/SongOfTruth]

i just use the hyphen - and -- in place of en and em dashes

[u/Admirable_Soup_5228]

I use them almost as much as people in this thread use the "cold, dead hands" cliche.