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  3. people keep talking about how "em dashes" are evidence of ai. i use them all the time. am i a computer now?

people keep talking about how "em dashes" are evidence of ai. i use them all the time. am i a computer now?

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  • T [email protected]

    01110111 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100100 01100101 01100001
    01101100 00111111

    edit - honestly not a troll. is it the specific formatting of "em" dashes? i know for sure we use them all the time. or at least i do. but they're just dashes to me, so..

    P This user is from outside of this forum
    P This user is from outside of this forum
    [email protected]
    wrote on last edited by
    #19

    Yes - anyone could be

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    • B [email protected]

      oh. thats wacky. it shows up for me on the live post but not the edit?

      E This user is from outside of this forum
      E This user is from outside of this forum
      [email protected]
      wrote on last edited by
      #20

      Just checked your home instance. feddit.org seems to be a Lemmy instance. I'm on Mbin, which is a totally different software. That could be the difference.

      EDIT: Just checked how the comment appears your instance. It indeed shows up as one line instead of two on your Lemmy instance, though running that line through https://babelstone.co.uk/Unicode/whatisit.html confirms my suspicion that it shows it shows as an en dash, not an em dash.

      B 1 Reply Last reply
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      • E [email protected]

        Just checked your home instance. feddit.org seems to be a Lemmy instance. I'm on Mbin, which is a totally different software. That could be the difference.

        EDIT: Just checked how the comment appears your instance. It indeed shows up as one line instead of two on your Lemmy instance, though running that line through https://babelstone.co.uk/Unicode/whatisit.html confirms my suspicion that it shows it shows as an en dash, not an em dash.

        B This user is from outside of this forum
        B This user is from outside of this forum
        [email protected]
        wrote on last edited by
        #21

        On second thought, let's not go to the internet. 'tis a silly place.

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        • M [email protected]

          Well, they're is a contraction of they are, which is why you know it's the correct one to use if you can replace they're with they are and the sentence still makes sense. The word their is possessive so if you're talking about someone or even something possessing something else, you would use their. There is in reference to something or somewhere else.

          I can't remember the specific rules I was taught in school, but I still know the correct usage many years later.

          There was a snake over there, they're trying to find it now, cause it isn't native and none of our friends say it is their snake!

          O This user is from outside of this forum
          O This user is from outside of this forum
          [email protected]
          wrote on last edited by
          #22

          Now I feel bad. I was being facetious.

          M 1 Reply Last reply
          0
          • O [email protected]

            Now I feel bad. I was being facetious.

            M This user is from outside of this forum
            M This user is from outside of this forum
            [email protected]
            wrote on last edited by
            #23

            Don't feel bad. Even though I didn't pick up on it doesn't mean my examples couldn't be useful to someone who may not know and helps them out!

            If I could ask, how did you pick your Lemmy name? Does it mean something?

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            • T [email protected]

              01110111 01101000 01100001 01110100 00100111 01110011 00100000 01110100 01101000 01100101 00100000 01100100 01100101 01100001
              01101100 00111111

              edit - honestly not a troll. is it the specific formatting of "em" dashes? i know for sure we use them all the time. or at least i do. but they're just dashes to me, so..

              F This user is from outside of this forum
              F This user is from outside of this forum
              [email protected]
              wrote on last edited by
              #24

              It's an identifier in social media, not in mainstream news.

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              • T [email protected]

                The em-dash is mostly used in books. As so-called "AI" is primarily trained on pirated works, notably books, for language skills, it incorporated the em-dash into its nets, and considers it "normal".

                starlinguk@lemmy.worldS This user is from outside of this forum
                starlinguk@lemmy.worldS This user is from outside of this forum
                [email protected]
                wrote on last edited by
                #25

                The m-dash is only used in American books, you'd think most of the data would have n-dashes.

                PS am proofreader, will replace all your ugly m-dashes with n-dashes.

                T 1 Reply Last reply
                0
                • starlinguk@lemmy.worldS [email protected]

                  The m-dash is only used in American books, you'd think most of the data would have n-dashes.

                  PS am proofreader, will replace all your ugly m-dashes with n-dashes.

                  T This user is from outside of this forum
                  T This user is from outside of this forum
                  [email protected]
                  wrote on last edited by
                  #26

                  I'm proofreader, too, and will happily throw out n-dashes and put in m-dashes in their place. Long live the m-dash!

                  starlinguk@lemmy.worldS 1 Reply Last reply
                  0
                  • M [email protected]

                    Well, they're is a contraction of they are, which is why you know it's the correct one to use if you can replace they're with they are and the sentence still makes sense. The word their is possessive so if you're talking about someone or even something possessing something else, you would use their. There is in reference to something or somewhere else.

                    I can't remember the specific rules I was taught in school, but I still know the correct usage many years later.

                    There was a snake over there, they're trying to find it now, cause it isn't native and none of our friends say it is their snake!

                    T This user is from outside of this forum
                    T This user is from outside of this forum
                    [email protected]
                    wrote on last edited by
                    #27

                    Whooooosh

                    1 Reply Last reply
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                    • qubaxr@lemmy.worldQ [email protected]

                      The whole em dash argument is bullshit propagated by LinkedIn lunatics with zero knowledge of AI, writing or typography.

                      Different types of dashes/hyphens have different uses. People who take care of their copy and understand the nuances of punctuation use em dashes regularly. People who are in a rush, typing on phones or simply who don't know any better, put the same en dash everywhere.

                      Em dashes is one of the things that LLMs actually do right for a change. Calling text with em dashes weird, unnatural or ai generated is like making fun of someone for using proper grammar or hygiene.

                      T This user is from outside of this forum
                      T This user is from outside of this forum
                      [email protected]
                      wrote on last edited by [email protected]
                      #28

                      Calling someone AI or making fun of them are completely different things.

                      Using proper grammar isnt bad, but may still be unusual.

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                      • T [email protected]

                        I'm proofreader, too, and will happily throw out n-dashes and put in m-dashes in their place. Long live the m-dash!

                        starlinguk@lemmy.worldS This user is from outside of this forum
                        starlinguk@lemmy.worldS This user is from outside of this forum
                        [email protected]
                        wrote on last edited by
                        #29

                        My editor would sack you.

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