Madcap Makes a Mad Dash to Rescue Dash

[justinsmith1]

As an English major, I've appropriated the dash as a new omnipunctuation tool - that is, if I'm too lazy to start a new sentence or decide what type of punctuation to use, I'll insert it

Comments

[groenta]

Sadly, you are correct in stating that people will understand a dash rather than a semi-colon; what has our education system done to punctuation?

[unrulybadger]

I'm a big fan of the dash - as well as the colon itself. The semi-colon is a much abused entity whose beauty is found in its sparing use.

[emmett_reiland]

yes, yes I agree with you. But I do believe that a great arsenal of punctuation is also a very good thing. Dashes are great, but you seem to be using a hyphen in these--dashes can look like that typed out. they can also look differently typed out - I now know that this sort of punctuation though seems to be lost in translation in this little live journal font. Also, you have my copy of big sur. If you have time and want to read it, I'd highly recommend it. Kerouac's a huge fan of the dash, and the greatest stylist of prose of the twentieth century (period).

[anonymous]

this reminds me of how i explained paratheses to a friend:

oh...parentheses? -- i think they're like dashes-- (for things that are extraneous). a good way to call attention to something by pretending that it doesn't matter as much as the rest of what you're saying. like a really good footnote.