A fun episode of the podcast 99% Invisible : “The Em Dash,” its past, present (in which it is sometimes disrespected as “the ChatGPT hyphen”), and future.
You didn’t think I would make a point of using a dash in this post, did you?
A related post
How to punctuate more sentences (Featuring the dash)
[Contra Fiona Green, who talks about Emily Dickinson in this episode: most readers would say that we are meant to register the pauses in Emily Dickinson’s poetry. Meter (often irregular) does not override all else.]
Thursday, February 5, 2026
The em dash on 99% Invisible
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comments: 3
I just read your April 12, 2007, post. Good stuff! I still have a hard time choosing between a dash and a colon to introduce a list at the end of a sentence. Sometimes I just flip a coin.
Thanks! With a list that ends a sentence, I think I always go with a colon — it seems less ambiguous to me.
When I was teaching, I’d sometimes refer to certain commas as commas of seasoning, to add or leave out, whichever you prefer. Your coin flip seems similar.
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