GalacticCactus Forum

Forums => English & Linguistics => Topic started by: The Genuine on July 02, 2008, 12:14:51 PM

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: The Genuine on July 02, 2008, 12:14:51 PM

In a signature, what would be the most appropriate lead-in to an attribution?

For example,

"We do chicken right!"

 - KFC

 -- KFC

 – KFC

 –– KFC

 — KFC

 — KFC

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: Tante Shvester on July 02, 2008, 01:44:18 PM

I can't click on the voting options. This poll isn't working for me.

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: Farmgirl on July 02, 2008, 02:30:20 PM

If it were me, I would do the quote in italics, then use the first option (non-italic).

But that doesn't mean that is by any means right. I have no idea what's right. That's just what I would do! :D  

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: The Genuine on July 02, 2008, 03:03:26 PM

Farmgirl, I guess this is the time to bring it up:  shouldn't that be an em dash in your sig?

Also, where's that quote from?  I really like that.  Really sounds like of nifty for any profession.  (Except maybe garbage man.)

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: Jonathon on July 02, 2008, 05:44:55 PM

The usual way is to do an em dash without any spaces around it.

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: The Genuine on July 02, 2008, 06:30:09 PM

Oh dear Grammar Mercenary, are your eyes blue in that avatar or am I seeing things?

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: Jonathon on July 02, 2008, 08:10:12 PM

Why don't you look closer? Yes, that's it . . . closer . . .  

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: Primal Curve on July 03, 2008, 10:09:23 AM

Quote

Why don't you look closer? Yes, that's it . . . closer . . .

(http://www.entropicalisle.com/gallery/d/2680-1/2001_20A_20SPACE_20ODYSSEY.jpg)

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: Neutros the Radioactive Dragon on July 03, 2008, 10:16:09 AM

It's full of stars....

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: Jonathon on July 08, 2008, 08:21:12 PM

I should probably point out that Rivka, being the linguistic anarchist that she is, probably thinks this is the right way of doing it:

·KFC


By the way, according to Chicago, quotation marks are generally omitted in epigraphs, with the quote or attribution often receiving some sort of distinctive typographic treatment like italics or indentation. They don't give any reasons why, though.  

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: Tante Shvester on July 08, 2008, 08:40:46 PM

Quote

By the way, according to Chicago, quotation marks are generally omitted in epigraphs, with the quote or attribution often receiving some sort of distinctive typographic treatment like italics or indentation.

I never got to see the play, but I enjoyed the movie.  I don't remember that part, though, so either I missed it, or it was from the play.

Was it in the part where Richard Gere was tap dancing?  Because that was mesmerizing.

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: Jonathon on July 08, 2008, 08:43:14 PM

I suspect that you're thinking of a different Chicago.

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: The Genuine on July 08, 2008, 08:45:51 PM

Quote

I should probably point out that Rivka, being the linguistic anarchist that she is, probably thinks this is the right way of doing it:

·KFC


By the way, according to Chicago, quotation marks are generally omitted in epigraphs, with the quote or attribution often receiving some sort of distinctive typographic treatment like italics or indentation. They don't give any reasons why, though.

Is that a bullet with no space in-between?  Should I have hyphenated in-between?

That's great info, JB.  Thanks!

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: The Genuine on July 08, 2008, 08:46:16 PM

So does the attribution go on the same line as the sig or one or two carriage returns under?

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: Jonathon on July 08, 2008, 08:59:29 PM

That was a middle dot or interpunct, not a bullet. Bullets are larger. But I'm just razzing her about a discussion that happened on Hatrack.

As an adverb, "in between" has no hyphen. You could look it up (http://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/in%20between). ;)

Attribution goes on the next line. But keep in mind that these guidelines are for epigraphs, not necessarily for signatures on forums.

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: Porter on July 08, 2008, 09:03:38 PM

Chicago doesn't have an entry for signatures on forums? :fear:  

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: Jonathon on July 08, 2008, 09:15:22 PM

Not yet. We can only hope the sixteenth edition remedies this glaring oversight.

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: Porter on July 08, 2008, 09:36:07 PM

Then I won't have any excuse for being wrong!

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: Jonathon on July 08, 2008, 09:37:44 PM

You can always write your own style guide and use it to defend your decisions.

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: Porter on July 08, 2008, 09:40:31 PM

Heck, I'm still using "--" in my signatures.  

It's like I'm stuck in 1993.

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: Jonathon on July 08, 2008, 09:44:21 PM

I wonder why nobody took the opportunity to change the keyboard when personal computers were invented. Why can't we ditch a few of the useless symbols and replace them with characters that people actually need?

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: Tante Shvester on July 08, 2008, 10:23:43 PM

That thing in the upper left corner of my keyboard?  `

What's that for?  I don't even know what ` is called.

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: Jonathon on July 08, 2008, 10:43:36 PM

It's a grave accent. How you actually use it, I have no idea. It's not like it automatically places itself over whatever letter you typed before or after it. Same with the tilde.

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: Tante Shvester on July 08, 2008, 10:46:21 PM

So I have a grave accent, but not an acute one?

I want an umlaut and a circumflex, if they're handing out accents.


In addition to my charming New York accent.

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: Porter on July 09, 2008, 08:01:19 AM

Quote

I wonder why nobody took the opportunity to change the keyboard when personal computers were invented. Why can't we ditch a few of the useless symbols and replace them with characters that people actually need?

Many of those symbols are used in programming languages or similar nerdy applications.

I regularly use all of of the symbols on my keyboard except for the grave mark.  That one we can kill.

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: Tante Shvester on July 09, 2008, 08:25:54 AM

Grave mark?

(http://www.nps.gov/prsf/historyculture/images/cemetery1.jpg)

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: goofy on July 09, 2008, 09:01:50 AM

Quote

I wonder why nobody took the opportunity to change the keyboard when personal computers were invented. Why can't we ditch a few of the useless symbols and replace them with characters that people actually need?

Well, with computers, the symbols printed on the keys don't really matter since you can use whatever keyboard layouts you like.

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: rivka on July 09, 2008, 11:33:28 AM

Quote

Same with the tilde.

But that's actually useful! It means "approximately".

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: Porter on July 09, 2008, 11:37:54 AM

In my preferred text editor, I use the tilde to switch toggle upper/lower case.

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: The Genuine on July 09, 2008, 11:55:47 AM

Why not use Caps Lock?

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: Porter on July 09, 2008, 11:56:56 AM

It is used to toggle upper/lower case of text that already exists.

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: Farmgirl on July 09, 2008, 01:49:55 PM

Quote

Farmgirl, I guess this is the time to bring it up:  shouldn't that be an em dash in your sig?

Also, where's that quote from?  I really like that.  Really sounds like of nifty for any profession.  (Except maybe garbage man.)

You know - probably.  I will see if I can fix that.
(I just made the dash with the keystroke ALT+0151 - that's what I've always used for em dash. Is that not correct?)

And the quote -- my son (the farmer) said it.  Although he's probably not the first person to say it, or at least think it.

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: The Genuine on July 14, 2008, 10:57:19 AM

Is there such thing as a non-breaking hyphen like there is a non-breaking space?

A corporate defendant in a case has a name like X-Y-Z and when that name appears at the end of a line, Word breaks it up across lines, but since's it's a name it should stay whole.

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: Jonathon on July 14, 2008, 11:54:42 AM

Quote

Many of those symbols are used in programming languages or similar nerdy applications.

I regularly use all of of the symbols on my keyboard except for the grave mark.  That one we can kill.

I may be mistaken about this, but I believed they're used because they're available; they're not on the keyboard because they're used in those applications. But that's a good point—there are several symbols that aren't used much in text, but if we got rid of them now, it'd inconvenience a lot of people.

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: Jonathon on July 14, 2008, 11:58:04 AM

Quote

Is there such thing as a non-breaking hyphen like there is a non-breaking space?

A corporate defendant in a case has a name like X-Y-Z and when that name appears at the end of a line, Word breaks it up across lines, but since's it's a name it should stay whole.

Yes, there is such a thing. It looks like the command to insert a nonbreaking hyphen in Word (at least in 2007) is Ctrl+Shift+_.

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: The Genuine on July 14, 2008, 12:22:22 PM

Many thanks!

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: The Genuine on July 15, 2008, 06:54:09 PM

Quote

Both long- and short- term.

Did I do that right on Sake's dating thread?


I feel like

Quote

Both long- and short-term.

would have unduly emphasized the "short" at the expense of the "long."

Or should I have dropped the hyphens altogether?

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: Jonathon on July 15, 2008, 08:04:12 PM

The latter is right. If you use a hyphen between two words, there should be no space.

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: The Genuine on July 15, 2008, 08:36:01 PM

Uncharacteristic as it may be, I might continue to defy you on that one.

Title: Dashes, hypens, and other lines
Post by: Jonathon on July 15, 2008, 08:37:11 PM

Be my guest. You're welcome to look as silly as you like. ;)