I love the aughts fashion, the use of the word “victim,” and the fact that “finger-guns” gets a hyperlink in the last caption. The woman in the photo gives an Oscar-worthy performance in the final image — she looks like she’s on the verge of tears — and her male counterpart couldn’t look more smug. The pictures are endearing and capture a kind of humanity you don’t find in your average stock photo.
Okay I hate that this is how I am all the time now, but was this written by AI?
No way a language model would come up with the victim mrs joke. And in general the writing of the whole piece is profoundly human, it’s just clear that a lot of care went into it.
Like me — I love these things!! 😍 (I never use them properly though—iirc there is supposed to be no space between them and the letters like that, and also they should appear in pairs, but I dare to be different!)
The em dash is a perfectly cromulent piece of punctuation that is slightly more serious in tone than putting an aside in parentheses and therefore is irreplaceable.
Yup. Personally I prefer the em-dash—glorious at it is—without spaces surrounding it, whereas the en-dash – a lowlier punctuation – is best presented with spaces. In consequence I find em-dashes look better when presented with proper typography rather than in random places on the internet. But that’s just personal preference. I’m tired of either character being treated as suspicious.
You’re right, but at least according to Wikipedia:
En dashes can be used instead of pairs of commas that mark off a nested clause or phrase. They can also be used around parenthetical expressions – such as this one – in a manner similar to the em dashes preferred by some publishers.
I generally prefer using em-dashes and no space, but if spaces are introduced I personally find the em-dash tends to make the whole thing too long at least in certain typesettings. But again, personal preferences.
This was published on February 14, 2022, before ChatGPT’s public release in November 2022. Inverse was also a real journalist publication that slowly got enshittified, but was still good in 2022.
I remember reading this article when it was first published, in 2022, for whatever that’s worth.
Okay I hate that this is how I am all the time now, but was this written by AI?
I can guarantee you it was not. Some people just refuse to give up their dashes. :)
It’s not just the em dashes, but the phasing as well. Happy to be proven wrong though.
No way a language model would come up with the victim mrs joke. And in general the writing of the whole piece is profoundly human, it’s just clear that a lot of care went into it.
Like me — I love these things!! 😍 (I never use them properly though—iirc there is supposed to be no space between them and the letters like that, and also they should appear in pairs, but I dare to be different!)
There are no strict universal rules about the spacing, just be consistent for pete’s sake!
The em dash is a perfectly cromulent piece of punctuation that is slightly more serious in tone than putting an aside in parentheses and therefore is irreplaceable.
Yup. Personally I prefer the em-dash—glorious at it is—without spaces surrounding it, whereas the en-dash – a lowlier punctuation – is best presented with spaces. In consequence I find em-dashes look better when presented with proper typography rather than in random places on the internet. But that’s just personal preference. I’m tired of either character being treated as suspicious.
I don’t think the en-dash should be used for parenthetical remarks. It’s primary use, in any case, is to represent ranges, like 3−4.
You’re right, but at least according to Wikipedia:
I generally prefer using em-dashes and no space, but if spaces are introduced I personally find the em-dash tends to make the whole thing too long at least in certain typesettings. But again, personal preferences.
I think that sentence is saying I’m wrong, isn’t it?? XD
I guess I am just on the side of “some publishers”…
I’d argue you’re not wrong!
That’s like, your opinion man
Also true, alongside relational claims such as the 2026 cabbage–FishFace dispute on the proper use of en-dashes.
I like your style
This was published on February 14, 2022, before ChatGPT’s public release in November 2022. Inverse was also a real journalist publication that slowly got enshittified, but was still good in 2022.
I remember reading this article when it was first published, in 2022, for whatever that’s worth.
ChatGPT must have learned from somewhere