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Subject:FYI:On em dashes and other lingua interrupti From:Karen Schriver <ks0e -at- andrew -dot- cmu -dot- edu> To:TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- raycomm -dot- com> Date:Tue, 30 May 2000 11:44:25 -0400
Danielle,
There is a great one-page article by William Safire in this past Sunday's
_New York Times Sunday Magazine_ entitled "Dash It All" (May 28, 2000, p.
19). It is a musing on the use of the em dash--its use, misuse, and abuse.
He is particularly concerned with how journalists have moved toward
overusing em dashes in order to more explicitly express uncertainty, hedge
their claims, pause in the middle of ideas, stammer and stew on an idea,
and generally to write more like they speak. Like other things Safire has
written, this article is succinct and witty. He raises a number of
provocative issues about the relationship of written and oral language. He
also rightly points to the visual power of the em dash as a lingua
interruptus stronger than a colon, a semi-colon or parentheses. If I were
still teaching my grad course on Style, I'd use to generate discussion.
It's very good.
