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Re:How to Use Em Dashes (–), En Dashes (–), and Hyphens (-) by Aardwolf on Friday March 28, 2025 @10:39AM (#43506004)
I think many grammar rules are not intellectual but just randomly evolved conventions.

E.g. some English language rule says that a comma or ending period of a non-quoted sentence goes inside the quotes if there's something quoted at the end of that sentence. That rule feels anti-intellectual to me, as if there's some misunderstanding of how hierarchical placement in one-dimensional space works (since something that's not being quoted is being put inside quotes)

Re:How to Use Em Dashes (–), En Dashes (–), and Hyphens (-) by NegativeLatency on Friday March 28, 2025 @02:57PM (#43508838)
Spelling used to be more fluid and up to the writer/printer. Printers would also use different spellings as a mechanism to change the line width and otherwise format text to their liking.

https://www.ruf.rice.edu/~kemmer/Histengl/spelling.html

Re:How to Use Em Dashes (–), En Dashes (–), and Hyphens (-) by milesrout on Friday March 28, 2025 @04:33PM (#43509577)
That "rule" is the rule in America but not elsewhere. Please break it. It is stupid.