Timeline for Is it acceptable to use a single hyphen as a dash (as the BBC does)?
Current License: CC BY-SA 3.0
11 events
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| Feb 2, 2015 at 22:43 | comment | added | Brian Hitchcock | @tchrist: I, for one, abstain from full justification, on the grounds that it sometimes obtrusively stretches or squeezes spacing. In my book, I did not allow the publisher to do this. Instead, I essentially did my own typesetting, using ragged margin but hand-adjusting the kerning of any lines that seemed too ragged. Thus, in my book, the spacing — even of dashes — is, to all but the most discerning eye, perfectly consistent. In other words, it matters to me both which kind of mark is used, and how it looks. How did you control en-dash spacing in your book? | |
| Feb 2, 2015 at 22:30 | comment | added | Brian Hitchcock | @tchrist: While reading in "Eats, shoots and leaves" (now don't get excited, I'm not quoting Lynn Truss on hyphen/dash usage), I noticed that the spacing of her spaced en-dashes varied widely — some appeared to be only hair-spaced, some almost double-spaced. Then I realized that this was nothing to do with the author's usage, or a copyeditor's correction, or even a proofreader's oversight, but rather the natural result of typesetting the entire body of the book "full justified". Perhaps this goes to your point of "not matter[ing] how it looks". | |
| Jan 26, 2015 at 4:57 | comment | added | SrJoven | I'm in general agreement that dash punctuation is probably not relevant specifically to English Language (most of these types of questions are not). This might be better discussed in meta, though. Grammar is not style; style is not grammar; and punctuation in itself isn't necessarily monogamous to English Language. Especially this usage. | |
| Jan 26, 2015 at 4:50 | comment | added | Brian Hitchcock | @SrJoven: thank you. I have edited my answer to mention those two sources. | |
| Jan 26, 2015 at 4:49 | history | edited | Brian Hitchcock | CC BY-SA 3.0 |
added 96 characters in body
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| Jan 26, 2015 at 4:46 | comment | added | Brian Hitchcock | If this is really a matter of esthetics (i.e., Typography) rather than of English Language & Usage, I suggest we migrate it to the Typography SE. Or at least rule it off-topic, as matters of typography are inevitably opinion-based. If it's a matter of computer technology (keyboards, character sets, software handling of character codes) let's migrate it to a computer-oriented SE. | |
| Jan 26, 2015 at 4:41 | comment | added | SrJoven | Your comment belongs as part of the answer. Why leave it in an ephemeral comment? I'm not arguing that your answer is wrong, but given the other answers, and the unsupported assertion you made within your sparse answer, one might be interested to know how you came to your conclusion. Or not. Comments aren't forever. | |
| Jan 26, 2015 at 4:26 | comment | added | Brian Hitchcock | @SrJoven: --------> Elements of Style (Strunk &White) 1st chapter "Elementary Rules of Usage", item 8 ---------> Chicago Manual of Style (section 6.84 and preceding) chicagomanualofstyle.org/home.html | |
| Jan 26, 2015 at 1:04 | comment | added | SrJoven | I wouldn't mind seeing references to reputable style guide notations that concur with your post. This answer feels more like a comment than an answer. | |
| Jan 25, 2015 at 15:54 | comment | added | tchrist♦ | Bringhurst does recommend spaced en dashes. | |
| Jan 25, 2015 at 6:55 | history | answered | Brian Hitchcock | CC BY-SA 3.0 |