Timeline for Is it acceptable to use a single hyphen as a dash (as the BBC does)?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
12 events
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| Apr 13, 2017 at 12:38 | history | edited | CommunityBot |
replaced http://english.stackexchange.com/ with https://english.stackexchange.com/
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| Mar 13, 2015 at 2:29 | comment | added | tchrist♦ | @JanusBahsJacquet So much for fooling all of the people some of the time. :) | |
| Mar 13, 2015 at 2:22 | comment | added | Janus Bahs Jacquet |
I might agree that dash/hyphen is more of a function-based than a glyph-based distinction; but I cannot agree that the examples given are examples of en dashes. That is a code point, a glyph—not a function. They may be hyphens functioning as dashes, but that does not make them en dashes any more than it makes them three-em dashes: glyph-wise, they are still hyphen-minuses.
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| Jan 25, 2015 at 23:51 | comment | added | Brian Hitchcock | @TChrist: so what's the point of having distinctive codes and distinctive names for the various types of hyphens and dashes, if you can call a hyphen an "en-dash" - just because it is enclosed by spaces? | |
| Jan 25, 2015 at 16:02 | comment | added | tchrist♦ |
@Mynamite Naw, one doesn’t need a new keyboard: one merely needs to learn how to actually use the keyboard one has. So for an example on a Mac, the distinction is trivial: use Option - for an en dash and Shift+Option - for em dash. People are just lazy or ignorant, or they have bad software. There is just about infinitely more to typography that which code points one can mindlessly key in directly without a custom setup.
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| Jan 25, 2015 at 14:50 | comment | added | Mynamite | @ChrisH Yes I realise that, unfortunately the keyboard is the tool by which we implement the software, so until manufacturers start putting 2 separate keys for hyphens and dashes, we're stuck with it. | |
| Jan 25, 2015 at 14:39 | history | edited | tchrist♦ | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Jan 25, 2015 at 14:32 | history | edited | tchrist♦ | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Jan 25, 2015 at 13:42 | comment | added | Chris H | @mynamite it's got a lot more to do with software than keyboards, but apart from that your argument holds. | |
| Jan 25, 2015 at 11:58 | comment | added | Mynamite | One problem is that standard keyboards insert a hyphen first, and only convert it to a dash if you follow this pattern: word-space-hyphen-space-word-space (which then converts to word-space-dash-space-word-space). If you deviate from this in any way, eg by cutting and pasting or accidentally typing 2 spaces, it will remain as hyphen, necessitating tedious manual corrections if you are a perfectionist. Pain in the proverbial. Maybe the BBC have special keyboards that allow you to easily select a hyphen or dash, I have no idea. | |
| Jan 25, 2015 at 4:38 | history | edited | tchrist♦ | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
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| Jan 25, 2015 at 4:30 | history | answered | tchrist♦ | CC BY-SA 3.0 |