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Why I Still Use Em Dashes — Even If People Call Them ChatGPT Hyphens
How writers can stay true to their voice.
It’s a rainy spring morning in Vienna. I’m curled up in a quiet café, a half-finished oat flat white by my side, and a case study blinking impatiently from my laptop screen.
The thirty minutes I gave myself to wrap up the final edit have stretched into sixty.
I keep returning to the same question: Can I keep the em dash in the headline?
Lately, people say the em dash is a dead giveaway — “Looks like ChatGPT wrote this.” It stings.
And so, in an act of avoidance disguised as productivity, I open WhatsApp.
A Message That Struck a Nerve
Right on cue, a message from Julia, a dear friend and a thoughtful reader of my newsletter, appears on my screen.
“Just one thing, because someone mentioned it to me recently 😄
Those long dashes? Total ChatGPT giveaway.
But hey, maybe that doesn’t matter anymore — since writing without AI is kind of old school, haha.”
