- Location
- Illinois
K, I intended all of that except the cutoff empty skulls part (fixed). The "are" was left hanging as a minimalist way of conveying that that post doesn't end there. The scare quotes are used because Anna isn't actually looking at the net, she's processing it straight into her brain. The dashes are -- because I wrote the omake in SV's post box instead of bothering to take the time to use an application like I usually would. The breachan... Idgaf. Unintended, I suppose, but it works just fine in the context of that post being gushy, ditzy, etc.
I could have done the hanging are better. Probably should have, really. But, eh, was a rush job omake.
I almost lightly chewed you out for the full paragraph lecture on en/em dashes, then realized that there's actually a difference.
Instead, you're going to get the "let me explain the purpose of language" lecture.
The purpose of language is to convey meaning. For this reason, language is kept fairly consistent. However, one notes that, despite "sis" not being listed in any dictionary as an actual word, a great number of english speakers will recognize "sis" as sharing the same meaning as "sister." We would not use "sis" in that way if it was also a word with another meaning (unless it was sufficiently obscure so as to not blur the meaning we are trying to convey when we are conversing).
What's my point? Simple: despite "sis" not being listed as a word, it succeeds in conveying meaning. It fulfils the purpose of language.
Now, writing is generally held to an even higher standard of consistency than speech, because it is often left to convey meaning without on-demand clarifications being available. Therefore in writing especially it is important that great precautions be taken to avoid misinterpretation.
Hence the couple-of-pixel difference between the em dash and the en dash, which are used for different purposes.
However, one must note that no situation exists where, by the definition you have provided for en dash usage, an en dash would be employed with spaces on both sides of it -- like so.
Then what could such a usage of an en dash indicate? The fact of the matter is that I have, I Am, others are, and others have used en dashes in such a way for the same purpose as an em dash would normally be employed. It's even more clear, because the spaces are much more noticable than the added two pixels. Tell me, when I used that dash, was the meaning unclear to you at all? Did I fail to fulfil the purpose of language?
*rolls eyes*
If the usage was unclear to you, now it's not. It's not that uncommon, either, so now you've learned of a new way to clearly communicate meaning. If the usage wasn't unclear to you, what was I doing wrong?
Now, I'm going to admit here that I went way overboard on you here. But quite frankly I was less than impressed with the way you immediately went ahead and laid out a full paragraph of what em and en dashes are, the way you assumed that the explanation for my usage was that I was ignorant.
Let me tell you a secret:
I don't have an em dash or en dash anywhere on this keyboard. I have no way to get that piece of punctuation into this post without copying it from somewhere else (to the best of my knowledge).
Given that I was using this same setup to write my post?
So, yes. Thank you, for telling me to use something I can't access conveniently instead of something I can, despite my having already provided an effective and convenient substitute for it.
I'm going to recognize that you're sleep deprived, and that you really, truly don't deserve to have me giving you this kind of reply over a single paragraph. I'm also going to admit that I get very, very defensive about my grammar, and that that defensiveness is not necessarily needed or rational. For that reason, I'm going to go hug your post.
Next time, please confirm before proceeding to inform me so thoroughly.
/claws
Edit: also, just fucking because...
Wikipedia said:
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