[jay_kyburz]

Yeah, this is what I don't understand, surely people aren't "using" em dashes deliberately. I assumed MS word was just inserting them automatically when the user used a minus symbol between two words. Kind of like angled quotes.

[buu700]

I've been using em dashes for much longer than transformers have existed. It's easily accessible on at least the Android and macOS keyboards.

[pxc]

I use them when they're easy to type. For me, that's on Android, macOS, and anywhere I've configured a compose key.

Angled quotes I use only on systems on which I've configured a compose key, or Android when I'm typing Chinese.

I don't like any kind of auto-replacement with physical keyboards, so I turn off "smart quotes" on macOS.

Anyway I use characters like that all the time, but it's never auto-replace.

[acuozzo]

> surely people aren't "using" em dashes deliberately

I've had a "trigger finger" for Alt+0151 on Windows since 2010 at least.

[whstl]

When I worked in company that did content marketing and had a lot of writers, one of the coffee mugs they gave to us had Alt+0151 in it!

Em-Dash was really popular with professional writers.

[eqvinox]

> surely people aren't "using" em dashes deliberately

I am, it's on the default German X11 keyboard layout. Same for · × ÷ …

And that's without going to the trusty compose key (Caps Lock for me)… wonders like ½ and H₂O await!

[jay_kyburz]

update: I read that word will place an em dash if you use two dashes "--"