The Em Dash: Rogue or Rescuer?

My educational cohort were deprived of the rigours of punctuation instruction, so I am easily befuddled by it. Yet despite this fear of humiliation, I do understand that to feel the ‘musical annotation’ of what was written, it is needed. So, I have embarked on a punctuation drive to: 

1. appear more professional; 
2. not bother people so much for help; and 
3. crack this bally thing that has thwarted me since childhood. 

Said punctuation drive began with the premise that, there are probably rules that help and I should learn them. So, Lynne Truss of ‘Eats, Shoots and Leaves’ fame, was dusted off and an online survey was found. English teacher friends, editor-cousin and others (who are good at this sort of thing) were consulted for advice, solace and inspiration. 

My use of the em dash, brackets and commas, were the chief offences.  Honestly, I did not really know the purpose of the em dash — not taught in my education — affirmed by Harris, due to the strictures of its chequered past. So, I have had to get to grips with these causes of pauses. 

The dash was called ‘em’ because in typesetting terms, it measured the length of a capital M — oops! I had been optimistically planting hyphens instead of the elegance of this longer stroke. On a Mac: you get the em dash by pressing the hyphen key twice or you can use: option, shift and the hyphen key. ‘Word' people? No idea. Let me know. Significantly, though, it was this ‘length’ that caused a typesetting issue resulting in its absence from pre-digital curricula, as it was difficult to use on old typewriters and consequently unpopular (see Harris). The ‘dash’ part of the name is instructive to its use; ‘dasshen’, from middle english, meaning to knock, hurl or break.

• The purpose of this remarkable notation? To amplify an interruption where there might be a broken thought or a U-turn is expressed. Whereas brackets quieten the additional information, the em provides a warmer inclusion of a non-vital-to-the-meaning-of-the-sentence phrase. Commas, corral information; the sheepdogs of punctuation, says the trusted Truss — i.e.not the political one. 

The em has had a difficult time feeling included in the punctuation fraternity. One friend I consulted questioned its integrity, consigning it merely to a typesetting issue. Another frowned and suggested it was more for those across the Atlantic. One stylist tells how his headmaster called its use “a moral turpitude”!

Harris practically ululates over this versatile little thing, which allows all sorts of tonal possibilities to your writing. Opportunities for stream-of-consciousness and disorganised-thought-pattern dividers. I knew there was a reason for the resonance I have with this mark! Poetry and dialogue it excels at —all the drama. This little friend is no rogue of lazy punctuation, but the rescuer that can open all kinds of doors to create excitement in writing. However, like all good things, beware of too much use, warns the wise Harris — apparently, women are more inclined to use them — really?

Nicky Wilkinson lives in Sheffield, is  part of the ACW Sheffield Scribblers Group. She lived abroad in the Czech Republic and Zimbabwe for 26 years. She worked for FEBA Radio in Zimbabwe, and taught at Chisipite Senior School in Harare. Lately she has become an adoring granny to four grandkids.