AI Didn’t Invent the Em Dash — Just Brought It Back Into Fashion

I keep seeing posts claiming that AI has made the em dash trendy again — as if ChatGPT and its cousins somehow discovered this glorious punctuation mark.

Really? So Emily Dickinson, Jane Austen, and Charles Dickens were all secretly large language models with a flair for dramatic pauses?

Let’s set the record straight:
The em dash has been around for centuries, used by literary greats to add flair, suspense, and rhythm. AI didn’t invent it — it just helped resurface it in a world drowning in bullet points and emojis.

Receipts From the Classics

Need proof?
Here’s Emily Dickinson, queen of poetic ambiguity, using em dashes like a boss:

“Because I could not stop for Death –
He kindly stopped for me –”

And here’s Charles Dickens, going full dramatic pause mode in Oliver Twist:

“I—I—am your brother,” said the man, drawing closer—“your elder brother…”

These authors didn’t need AI to sprinkle in dashes — they did it instinctively, for dramatic effect.

Why the Comeback?

So why does it feel like AI is responsible?

• Chatbots love em dashes — They use them to mimic natural speech patterns, creating conversational flow.
• Casual writing is on the rise — Blogs, emails, and social posts favour em dashes over stiff semicolons.
• AI-generated content — Since AI models are trained on modern and classic texts, em dashes naturally show up more.

The Verdict:

AI didn’t invent the em dash — it just helped make it cool again. Like flared jeans or existential dread.

#Writing #GrammarNerds #EmDashAppreciation #AIAndPunctuation