Oh no am I going to have to get myself a physical dictionary on no it's calling to me

In the examples with the em-dash, yes, you could replace both with a colon or a comma or something. But there's an aesthetic difference. There's something almost ironic to the last sentence with the em-dash, but it would become a banal statement with a comma.

Okay, em-dash rant over. Promise.

And yes, proper usage of em-dashes can be confusing. My rule of thumb is:

1. Colons indicate a linear relationship. (e.g. The rat: a tiny rodent.)

2. Em-dashes can indiace a linear or a contrastive relationship. (e.g. Lions—the kings of the jungle.
OR
Lions are the kings of the jungle—or the zoo)

Our house style is to have no spaces before or after em-dashes, so some of our copywriters have started replacing all their em-dashes with colons, which... doesn't work 😱

This is especially obvious when an em-dash contrasts two clauses:

"Run or hide: just don't turn around." REALLY doesn't work.

P.S. Thanks to @saken.me for convincing me to serialize my yapping and turn it into something interesting and potentially educational (one day!)

I think you will be seeing more posts like this in future :^)

I think this system makes for a pretty fun way to distinguish between all the different stuff I get up to in my life.

And if you want to see even more weird, cool things from this book (that's more like lit crit than this grammatical analysis) take a look at the article I wrote about it last year:

These ₁ and ₂ distinctions are differentiated in some way that's never revealed to us in the original language (maybe it's a specific sound or syllable). They're separate from the base word, but change its meaning, making them more like some kind of universal work-based suffix

The sociopolitical implications of this aside (though they're interesting for sure), I want to discuss this from the PoV of grammar. This isn't just using numbers to distinguish between two untranslatable words of a future language. You can talk about colleagues₁ and an office₂ and being busy₁ and ₂

The story is set millenia in the future, on a socialist planet part of a galaxy-spanning civilization. The planet distinguishes between "jobs₁" which you work at for yourself, and "jobs₂", which you work at for your society. For example, the protagonist works as a diplomat₁ and a waste collector₂

I work₂ as an editor, but my real calling₁ is writing, so that's how I format it in my bio. It's a system from my favorite book of all time, "Stars in My Pockets Like Grains of Sand", and it's a great example of how to use "technical" fields like orthography creatively when writing fiction

(1/5)

'Scotch-free'? 'Scott free'??

The one you want to use is 'scot-free.'

‘Scot’ is an old word for “tax.”

So, ‘scot-free’ literally means “exempt from tax.”

It’s since been broadened to mean “completely free from obligation, harm, or penalty.”

My new substack essay about the philosophy of love in WALL-E (2008) is finally out!
#Pixar #Disney #Moviereview

Idk the ethical workings of public #psychology but something about this message from my uni just feels off. Like they really just spell out the only reason you apparently could get therapy: if you're not a good enough individualized neoliberal actor. And what's with "mobilize your inner resources"??

How to spot #AI #copywriting:
1. Stupid emojis, easiest.
2. The final phrase linking a CTA to slang or meme, obviously generated from a prompt. Also true for the 1st paragraph, linking slang with game's selling point.
3. Construction "product is x,y,z" in the 2nd paragraph sounds unnatural.

Miffed about this trend that apparently you can tell something was written by #AI just because it has m-dashes. I want you to know any text I edit, even if it's written by AI, I am the one who personally put the m-dashes there because THEY ARE PROPER USAGE IN AMERICAN ENGLISH!!!

It's ironic because the sensor-activated blow-dryer they had is worse for germs than getting your hands dirty and cleaned with regular towels.

Used the bathroom in a high-class mall today and everything, the faucet, the soap dispenser, and the hair dryer were all sensor-activated. It suggests this reality where your wealth literally sets the inanimate world into motion. Your very presence activates (warrants) cleaning, washing, drying.

Some Goodreads reviwers will literally sit there yapping on about how Mark Earlington was tracking down the Mysterious Lady for 3 paragraphs and make ME sift through their tepid water writing to find any crumb of their opinion on what they actually read!!!!

So if you're writing a #bookreview and you start summarizing the book I WON'T READ IT! Why do I care what the damn book is about? I'm not here for a synopsis, I can look that the fuck up!!! I want to know what YOU thought!! Why YOU loved it!!! What made YOU hate it!!! Why others need to read it!!!

last year I wrote a blog about queer interpretations of the epic of gilgamesh. my argument is that, sure, there weren't any actual gays back then, but we can still find meaningful queer interpretations in ancient literature that connect with modern readers.

#literature #queer #litcrit #gilgamesh