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Hello - how old is this please, and are you selling the little brush that goes with it too?
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Aha! We have a fundamental difference in our understanding of what constitutes common and proper nouns. I'm going with this version, so we'll have to agree to disagree.
Bible vs bible is a nice example of how metaphorical use of proper nouns can make them common nouns though.
It started in uppercase as 'this is the Bible of this' because it once had direct reference to the actual Bible (proper noun) but, through a lot of usage, it became a common metaphorical phrase and is now 'the bible of xyz' (common noun) when used transitively.
So, did you go? :)
Not yet. Nerd Nite doesn't appear to be happening atm. If anyone knows of a grammar geeks' gathering, I'm there! :)
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Spotted in Barcelona
nutsnats.com
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Can’t go into all the reasons the above is incorrect, but no: em is lowercase.
In brief:
The word em is the name of a measurement based on, but no longer dictated by, the letter M.Context and rarity clarify its meaning. It doesn’t need a capital, like it doesn’t need putting in bold or underlining. It is. We don’t need to gild the lily. English dropped capitalisation of all Nouns in Sentences just because they’re Names a couple of Centuries ago.
There’s an argument for preference, sure! Why would I care about personal usage? I wouldn’t dream of arguing the point if you hadn’t ‘corrected’ me with such authority in the first place.
Capitalising ‘em’ makes as much sense as capitalising ‘alpha’ every time you use it (eg: he was no Alpha male). Just because it once referred to a capital, doesn't mean it needs a capital. If it was about the shape, it could be argued for. Take the L.
Again, can’t believe I have such strong opinions on usage of em. Need to go to Nerd Nite, be among my tribe.
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It's obviously somewhat circular. :)
It's not circular, it's a line! :-)
To take your arguments for (It should always be 'En dashes' and 'Em dashes') in turn.
Because the reference letters are uppercase
The name 'em' was in reference to the block size of the uppercase letter M, but that's no reason for it to be uppercase itself. If it was about the shape, like T-shirt or Q-tip, we'd maybe be in agreement.
because it's a name
Well, it's a noun, but it's not a proper noun, so it doesn't need a capital for that reason.
and to distinguish it from the measurement unit.
It is the measurement unit (the em of pica is a third of an inch or something) so doesn't need distinguishing from itself.
Feel like I may have lost the room long ago at this point, but have attached some screengrabs from the OED on the usages of 'em' for fellow nerds … en-joy!
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Yes. "Coöperate" is nuts to me because the second o represents a perfectly normal English sound and a hyphen would work fine, if anything is needed at all. The broader point is that people and institutions love to make absolutist pronouncements about correct usage but they are rarely justified, and often only make things more effortful or jarring to the reader. DJing is easier to read than "D.J.-ing" is my point.
Isn't that's an En dash you've put there?
Ha! Now fixed!
(It should always be 'En dashes' and 'Em dashes'.)
Why? It has always been lowercase 'em' and 'en' in British English usage, used to signify the measurement of the type block 'N' and 'M'. Written as 'en' and 'em' to avoid confusion among printers between discussions about type measure and about actual letters. US or International English may differ idk.
Why not, if you're professionally concerned with them (as I guess you are)?
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between dates/measures is en dashes
I agreë!
I'm saying that if an em dash has to be used to separate dates, I think it doesn't benefit from having spaces either side of it.
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In reply to @Oliver Schick
The NYT and New Yorker style guides are bonkers ("coöperate", "D.J.-ing" for example), but this is all about personal taste imho. The more style guides I've read, the more I've realised they're just conventions, dictated more or less high-handedly depending on the author/publication.
I prefer no space if an em dash is after interrupted speech, it's between two dates, measures etc, or it's being used to balance out two mirrored clauses (man proposes—God disposes), but I prefer a bit of space when it's occupying a similar function to a regular dash.
Yikes. Really didn't realise I had such depth of feeling about em dashes.
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It’s a hot topic among copy editors — in the US more than the UK.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/08/14/style/em-dash-punctuation.html
To my ear, it has more of a dramatic beat to it than an en dash. Its slightly longer diving board lends a pause somewhere between a regular dash (en) and an ellipsis.
Thanks for getting back to me. I’ve since bought a new one but I’m sure this will be snapped up soon by another overcaffeinated cyclist. Glws!