Funny - the ChatGPT app on mac uses a font that doesn't differentiate between any dash.

I use dashes in place of commas, semicolons, colons, and brackets all the time - I just use the standard keyboard dash. Why the heck should I bother learning some stupid key combination to make the dash longer? I highly doubt that the vast majority of readers even know that there are different dashes with different uses. When I learned about it, I decided to be a conscientious objector because using - vs — and assuming I can tell the difference is inane (because it is font based).

(ironically, the HN text editing dialog shows - as ~.8 of the length of — whereas on the site it shows as ~.25 of —)

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ryandrake 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Wie shood I bothr lerning two spel wen teh vass majarrity ov reedrs can stil reed dis commnt?

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anonthrownaway 2 hours ago | parent [-]

Wrong analogy. Why should I bother to differentiate between the length of a dash when the vast majority of readers don't have a clue what it means (and don't need it to determine meaning).

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oneeyedpigeon 31 minutes ago | parent | next [-]

Because the impact of something can be felt even when the object doesn't appreciate they are feeling it. People choose fonts for the particular impact they will have on the reader, even though that reader won't think about it.

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WillAdams 2 hours ago | parent | prev [-]

Because it looks better and is a guide to communication.

For the poster child of a naïvely set/composed text which suffers thereby see:

https://blog.lostartpress.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/10/vir...

That a book about a perfectly made tool cabinet suffers from so many typos (the maker's name, Henry, is mis-spelled on the inside cover) and such pedestrian composition embodies much of what went wrong when the typesetting unions all bargained for sinecures rather than active participation in the Desktop Publishing Revolution.

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anonthrownaway an hour ago | parent [-]

>Because it looks better and is a guide to communication.

Personally, I think em-dashes (when in a font that shows the damn difference) look exaggerated and silly. They certainly don't provide any important guidance to its meaning that I can't derive from context.

That was a cool toolbox BTW :)

	▲	WillAdams 32 minutes ago \| parent [-]
		Some typographers agree and afford a 3/4s length em-dash. Yes, the Studley tool cabinet is amazing, which makes the infelicities of the book all the more enraging.