You’ve probably noticed it. Somewhere between the LinkedIn “thought leaders” and the AI panic prophets, people have decided that the em dash (—) is the scarlet letter of synthetic writing. One too many of those long, sexy lines in a paragraph, and suddenly your prose smells like it crawled out of ChatGPT’s algorithmic womb.
But here’s the thing — that’s complete bullshit.
Let’s talk about what the em dash actually is, why writers (human ones, with actual caffeine addictions and rent payments) have been using it forever, and why this recent meltdown over its existence says more about people’s insecurities than about punctuation.
The Anatomy of the Dash: Hyphen vs En vs Em
Before we dive into the chaos, a quick anatomy lesson. There are three kinds of horizontal lines people confuse constantly:
- Hyphen (-) — short little guy. Used to glue words together, like “high-speed” or “mother-in-law.”
- En dash (–) — slightly longer. Usually means “to” or “through,” like “2007–2012” or “Toronto–Montreal.”
- Em dash (—) — the long boi. It’s about the width of the letter “M,” hence the name. This is our drama queen — the one that causes riots on Reddit.
Yes, we’re talking about punctuation like it owes us money — because honestly, it kind of does.
So when someone complains about em dashes, they’re not mad at a dash — they’re mad at style.
The Real Job of the Em Dash
Let’s clear this up: the em dash is not grammatical anarchy. It’s punctuation with purpose.
It’s the espresso shot of the English language — too many and your writing gets jittery, but just one or two and damn, it hits.
It can replace:
- Commas, for added emphasis.
“I went to the store — bought one of everything — and regretted my life choices immediately.” - Parentheses, for clarity without feeling like you’re whispering.
“She finally called — after ghosting me for three weeks — and acted like nothing happened.” - Colons, when you want a reveal with a little flair.
“He had one dream — revenge.”
Remember, if you need three em dashes in one sentence, maybe you don’t need punctuation — you need therapy.
It’s flexible, emotional, and dynamic — three words no one has ever used for a comma.
Why Everyone Thinks It’s an “AI Tell”
Let’s be honest: the AI revolution dumped a metric ton of mediocre text onto the internet. And a lot of that text? Absolutely dripping with em dashes.
Why? Because large language models (and lazy content generators) learned from human writing patterns — specifically, online human writing. Blogs, newsletters, Medium posts, Substacks — the kind of stuff where people use em dashes to sound breezy and conversational.
The result? Every AI-generated thought piece sounds like it was written by a copywriter on their fifth cold brew.
“Content is changing — but don’t panic — it’s all about authenticity.”
Sound familiar? Yeah. It’s the kind of “voice” that makes English teachers twitch.
If you’ve ever yelled at a blog post for “sounding AI,” congrats: you’ve become the punctuation police.
But blaming the em dash for AI text is like blaming guitars for Nickelback. The problem isn’t the instrument — it’s the player.
Humans Were Doing This Long Before Robots Showed Up
If using em dashes makes you sound like a machine, then someone better tell:
- Emily Dickinson, who wrote entire poems powered exclusively by em dashes — no commas, no periods, just vibes.
- Mark Twain, who used them to interrupt himself mid-sentence like the king of American rambling that he was.
- Virginia Woolf, who used them to mimic human thought spirals before Twitter was even a fever dream.
Somewhere out there, Emily Dickinson is side-eyeing your anti-em-dash Facebook posts from beyond the grave.
These writers used em dashes because they understood rhythm. The dash is a pause, a breath, a way of shaping the reader’s attention. It’s punctuation as performance art.
If anything, the AI obsession with em dashes proves how human the style is — machines are just imitating what good writers have been doing forever.
Why People Actually Hate It
Let’s be real: most of the anti-em-dash outrage isn’t about punctuation. It’s about tone.
People hate it because they associate it with:
- Pretentious blog writing
- “Relatable” marketing copy that sounds fake AF
- Writers trying too hard to sound conversational
The dash isn’t the villain here. The villain is people who think semicolons are personality traits.
The em dash is an easy scapegoat. It’s visible. It’s flashy. It’s a punctuation mark with swagger. But blaming it for bad writing is like blaming glitter for bad drag — the problem isn’t the tool; it’s how you use it.
The Right Way to Use It
If you want to use the em dash like a pro — not like a half-baked content farm — here’s how:
- Use it for rhythm, not decoration.
If you can replace it with a comma or period without losing the punch, you’re golden. - Limit yourself to one pair per sentence.
More than that, and you sound like your thoughts are on fire and you can’t find the extinguisher. - Don’t mix it with parentheses or colons in the same breath.
That’s chaos punctuation. Choose one. Be loyal. - Space or no space?
North American style = no spaces. British style = spaces. Just be consistent.
Author’s Note: Grammarly flagged this section for “tone: slightly unhinged.” Mission accomplished.
The Internet Has a Punctuation Identity Crisis
The reason the em dash is under fire right now is because people online are hypervigilant for “AI tells.”
They want to feel like they can sniff out the machine in the room. But ironically, this obsession has turned a lot of people into robots themselves — parroting the same “that sounds AI” line anytime they see something polished or rhythmic.
Meanwhile, real writers are out here trying to craft sentences that don’t sound like they were assembled in a grammar lab.
Don’t worry — we’ll stop using the word “vibes” in about five minutes. Maybe.
It’s time we stop crucifying punctuation and start focusing on what actually matters — intent, pacing, and voice.
Final Thoughts: The Dash Is Not Your Enemy
So no, the em dash isn’t a sign of AI. It’s a sign you care about rhythm — that you know how to make a sentence breathe.
The problem isn’t the dash; it’s lazy writing. And that’s been around a lot longer than ChatGPT.
The next time someone whines that your em dash “sounds AI,” just smile and say: “Nah, bro. It’s called style.”
Then hit ‘em with one more for good measure — just because you can.
If you’ve made it this far without rage-tweeting about punctuation, congratulations — you’re officially cooler than half the internet.
