Remember when em-dashes were just punctuation?
Now they’re slop-watermarks.
You can’t read anything online anymore without seeing them lined up like little forensic clues:
“Here’s the thing—”
“Let me explain—”
“The future is—”
The em-dash used to mean:
“Ah, a stylish writer.”
Now it means:
“This paragraph was assembled in 0.8 seconds by a stochastic parrot that thinks every sentence needs the cadence of a TED Talk delivered during a hostage situation.”
We’ve reached the phase of the internet where punctuation itself has become a tell. Like digital fingerprints left at the scene of a content crime.
Soon literary critics are gonna write:
“Early 2020s prose is characterized by emotional support em-dashes, vacant aphorisms, and the overwhelming sensation that the author has a podcast microphone somewhere nearby.”
The em-dash died for AI’s sins.
#ai #emdash #writing #slop
Larvitz :fedora:
npub1fj…jaq90
2026-05-10 18:53:05 UTC
Author Public Key
npub1fj6u59lnses9xu6xa6ewugrfg2e639lg32r24383525xq3deyuaspjaq90Published at
2026-05-10 18:53:05 UTCEvent JSON
{
"id": "ef91651e2bfaa1f7488cc71d800ee4dcc87235f69cd0e8b9d6d7eb0085f03a2f",
"pubkey": "4cb5ca17f38660537346eeb2ee206942b3a897e88a86aac4f1a2a86045b9273b",
"created_at": 1778439185,
"kind": 1,
"tags": [
[
"t",
"writing"
],
[
"t",
"ai"
],
[
"t",
"emdash"
],
[
"proxy",
"https://burningboard.net/@Larvitz/116551790452472129",
"web"
],
[
"t",
"slop"
],
[
"proxy",
"https://burningboard.net/users/Larvitz/statuses/116551790452472129",
"activitypub"
],
[
"L",
"pink.momostr"
],
[
"l",
"pink.momostr.activitypub:https://burningboard.net/users/Larvitz/statuses/116551790452472129",
"pink.momostr"
],
[
"-"
]
],
"content": "Remember when em-dashes were just punctuation?\n\nNow they’re slop-watermarks.\n\nYou can’t read anything online anymore without seeing them lined up like little forensic clues:\n“Here’s the thing—”\n“Let me explain—”\n“The future is—”\n\nThe em-dash used to mean:\n“Ah, a stylish writer.”\n\nNow it means:\n“This paragraph was assembled in 0.8 seconds by a stochastic parrot that thinks every sentence needs the cadence of a TED Talk delivered during a hostage situation.”\n\nWe’ve reached the phase of the internet where punctuation itself has become a tell. Like digital fingerprints left at the scene of a content crime.\n\nSoon literary critics are gonna write:\n“Early 2020s prose is characterized by emotional support em-dashes, vacant aphorisms, and the overwhelming sensation that the author has a podcast microphone somewhere nearby.”\n\nThe em-dash died for AI’s sins.\n\n#ai #emdash #writing #slop",
"sig": "fe91b9fbaf4e6f70efebc5a89190fa18b1beb86f6412cdfd5bb0e1b57a48af12ff67a78495ed90f5e3bf56e96ef5090bb7c2afb2c9369463b94cab2277de4521"
}