Re:Em dashes are fucking amazing
by Helmut10001 on Friday July 24, 2026 @03:39PM
(#49040677)
The best advice is often: Use a dot and start a new sentence. The best writers use very short sentences in a row and simple words. They flow easily and do not break reading. This works particularly well in science and for difficult topics.
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Most of the best writers today, and aesthetically the baseline expectation. But I personally like the older em dash and semicolon laden styles that used a greater diversity of forms to weave thoughts together.
A stream of short sentences often feels lazy, reductive, and tedious. But it is more forgiving--you can't fail if you don't try. And it inflates word count, similar to verbose Java vs compact Perl.
Re:Em dashes are fucking amazing
by ComputerPerson on Saturday July 25, 2026 @07:12AM
(#49046575)
I find myself using semicolons excessively in my communication with LLMs. Those and nested parenthesis. I do this mostly to avoid having to restructure my words; my thought patterns are accurately reflected, and the machines have no trouble with lispish structure.