I totally agree!

When I was growing up, I saw plays also use it like this:

  The two are in a room.
  -- Some guy says this
  -- The other guy says that

You just don't see em-dashes used like they used to -- and it shows!

▲ jonah 6 hours ago | parent | next [-]

They used two hyphens -- instead because typewriters don't have em dashes —.

	▲	EGreg 5 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Sure, but that's not what I was talking about :)

▲ schoen 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

This use in dialogue is common in Continental European languages, especially Romance languages. I think it's also common in English among writers who were influenced by other European languages?

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blauditore 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Which languages are you talking about? It looks unfamiliar to me.

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schoen 7 hours ago | parent | next [-]

Here's someone talking about an example in French: https://forum.wordreference.com/threads/fr-em-dash-usage.364...

I believe I've also seen it in Spanish and Portuguese.

	▲	rafabulsing 6 hours ago \| parent [-]
		Brazilian here. That is indeed the standard way dialogue is represented in literature. We call the em-dash a "travessão".

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pbalau 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

I think Romanian uses that too and it just occurred to me that "linie de dialog" is not dash, but em dash.

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messe 7 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

IIRC Joyce was a fan.