From mboxrd@z Thu Jan  1 00:00:00 1970
From: Eric Abrahamsen <eric@ericabrahamsen.net>
Subject: Re: emdash and endash
Date: Mon, 18 Apr 2011 14:56:46 +0800
Message-ID: <87wris9he9.fsf@ericabrahamsen.net>
References: <BANLkTikWno+de5SdffP0C3EExWfOVhzXCA@mail.gmail.com>
	<8762qcf9ay.fsf@benfinney.id.au>
	<BANLkTin-8XDj9mLmo9PiCsSVhH5QpvWCyg@mail.gmail.com>
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit
Return-path: <emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org>
Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([140.186.70.92]:40858)
	by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71)
	(envelope-from <geo-emacs-orgmode@m.gmane.org>) id 1QBiOW-0007DG-Nb
	for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 18 Apr 2011 02:57:16 -0400
Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71)
	(envelope-from <geo-emacs-orgmode@m.gmane.org>) id 1QBiOP-0007uo-UW
	for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 18 Apr 2011 02:57:12 -0400
Received: from lo.gmane.org ([80.91.229.12]:42130)
	by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71)
	(envelope-from <geo-emacs-orgmode@m.gmane.org>) id 1QBiOP-0007uf-Nx
	for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 18 Apr 2011 02:57:05 -0400
Received: from list by lo.gmane.org with local (Exim 4.69)
	(envelope-from <geo-emacs-orgmode@m.gmane.org>) id 1QBiOM-00051a-Ls
	for emacs-orgmode@gnu.org; Mon, 18 Apr 2011 08:57:02 +0200
Received: from 123.121.239.148 ([123.121.239.148])
	by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian))
	id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00
	for <emacs-orgmode@gnu.org>; Mon, 18 Apr 2011 08:57:02 +0200
Received: from eric by 123.121.239.148 with local (Gmexim 0.1 (Debian))
	id 1AlnuQ-0007hv-00
	for <emacs-orgmode@gnu.org>; Mon, 18 Apr 2011 08:57:02 +0200
List-Id: "General discussions about Org-mode." <emacs-orgmode.gnu.org>
List-Unsubscribe: <http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/options/emacs-orgmode>,
	<mailto:emacs-orgmode-request@gnu.org?subject=unsubscribe>
List-Archive: </archive/html/emacs-orgmode>
List-Post: <mailto:emacs-orgmode@gnu.org>
List-Help: <mailto:emacs-orgmode-request@gnu.org?subject=help>
List-Subscribe: <http://lists.gnu.org/mailman/listinfo/emacs-orgmode>,
	<mailto:emacs-orgmode-request@gnu.org?subject=subscribe>
Errors-To: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org
Sender: emacs-orgmode-bounces+geo-emacs-orgmode=m.gmane.org@gnu.org
To: emacs-orgmode@gnu.org

On Mon, Apr 18 2011, Samuel Wales wrote:

> On 2011-04-17, Ben Finney <ben+emacs@benfinney.id.au> wrote:
>> I think not. I see many (non-Org) ASCII documents that distinguish a
>> notional em dash from en dash by different number of hyphens, as in your
>> first list.
>
> Like this---really?  Or --- this?  It does look, however, as if people
> use different standards.  I am not suggesting that the default be
> changed.
>
>> “Consistent with ASCII”? ASCII has neither en dash nor em dash, so it's
>> not ASCII that you're wanting to be consistent with. You're referring to
>> conventions that attempt to preserve Unicode characters in ASCII.
>
> Quite right.  Of course, some conventions -- this one included
> (or--arguably uglier but many favor it--this one) -- began before
> Unicode.

A very minor two cents…

I think this springs much earlier typographical conventions: the
grammatical dash is sometimes represented by an en-dash with spaces on
either side, and sometimes by an em-dash with no spaces. Perhaps a US/UK
thing? But I don't think that anyone uses an em-dash with spaces on
either side, and I think the convention of two ASCII dashes standing for
an en-dash (and three for em-) probably still makes the most sense…