L2/02-353
From: Kenneth Whistler <kenw@sybase.com>
Date: 2002 Oct 24 16:11
Subject: Dashes

Since Mark excerpted CMS:

> Here is some background information briefly summarized from the Chicago
> Manual of Style. If other people can consult and summarize other style
> manuals (for English and other languages), that would help prepare us for
> the discussion of dashes at the UTC meeting.

and since Michael suggested:

> I do not have time to consult and summarize it, but I would consider 
> Bringhurst's Elements of Typographic Style to be a good source of 
> "best practice". I note that Chicago doesn't talk about the use of 
> space en-dash space being equivalent to the US em-dash.

and since I agree that Bringhurst is an excellent source on
current best typographic practice, I have excerpted the relevant
sections below, and ask that this also be entered into the L2
document trail as a counterweight to the dead hand of CMS
prescription. :-)

--Ken

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[Excerpted from The Elements of Typographic Style,
 Robert Bringhurst, 2nd. ed., 1996.]
 
[ p. 80 ]

5.2.1 Use spaced en dashes -- rather than em dashes or
hyphens -- to set off phrases.

....

In typescript, a double hyphen (--) is often used for a long
dash. Double hyphens in a typeset document are a sure sign
that the type was set by a typist, not a typographer. A
typographer will use an em dash, three-quarter em, or en dash,
depending on context or personal style. The em dash is the
nineteenth-century standard, still prescribed in many
editorial style books, but the em dash is too long for use
with the best text faces. Like the oversized space between
sentences, it belongs to the padded and corseted aesthetic
of Victorian typography.

[[Take that, you superannuated editors of CMS!]]

[ p. 81 ]

5.2.3 Use the em dash to introduce speakers in narrative
dialogue.

The em dash, followed by a thin space (M/5) or word space,
is the normal European method of marking dialogue, and it
is much less fussy than quotation marks:

  -- So this is a French novel? she said.
  -- No, he said, it's Manitoban.
  
5.2.4 In lists and bibliographies, use a three-em rule when
required as a sign of repetition.

Set without spaces, a line of true em dashes forms a
continuous midline rule. A three-em rule (three consecutive
em dashes) is the old standard bibliographical sign for the
repetition of a name. ...

[[Example excised]]

In recent years, most professional scholars have abandoned
this style of bibliography, but the three-em rule still has
many nonacademic uses.

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