The problem with the dash—as you may have noticed!—is that it discourages truly efficient writing. It also—and this might be its worst sin—disrupts the flow of a sentence. Don’t you find it annoying—and you can tell me if you do, I won’t be hurt—when a writer inserts a thought into the midst of another one that’s not yet complete?

— Noreen Malone, making a case on Slate against the overuse of the em dash, that rebel of the punctuation pantheon that allows a writer to insert a stray piece of information or jump cut from one thought to another.

Seconded.

(via markcoatney)

trove

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  9. cynicalidealist said: On the other hand, a well placed double dash is very effective for driving home a key point. Rhetorically speaking, of course. But I’d agree that more than two is too many.
  10. seldo reblogged this from markcoatney and added:
    I am definitely a major offender here. I love me some em dash.
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