Em-dash and its oddball(?) accoutrement

[Cassady]

Hello all,

I’m not sure when it started happening – maybe it has been there all along – but is now something that is increasingly annoying me (something seen, cannot be unseen and all that!)…

When typing the “em-dash”, which I do frequently, by means of the “alt±” combination, it is followed (more-often-than-not) by a little ‘caret’/space-character, as per the screengrab below…

With the ‘invisible characters’ off, it is noticeable by the odd spacing difference to the left and right of the ‘dash’.

Anyone know why this appears – and if anything can be done to remove it/prevent it from appearing in the absence of just a ‘normal’ [space]??

[gr]

I can’t reproduce this.

By the way, option-dash for n-dash. Shift-option-dash for m-dash.

[JoRo]

That looks like an en dash and a non-breaking space. Are you perhaps pressing OPT HYPHEN followed by OPT SPACE?

HYPHEN is a hyphen -

UNDERSCORE (above the hyphen on most keyboards, so the shift key is usually needed) is an underscore _

OPT HYPHEN is an en dash –

OPT UNDERSCORE (above the hyphen on most keyboards, so the shift key is usually needed) is an em dash —

OPT SPACE is a non-breaking space

Slàinte mhòr.

[Cassady]

@gr

I can’t reproduce this.

I find myself idly wondering if it is systemic. Would it happen in Word or TextEdit?

gr

P.S. Option-dash for n-dash. Shift-option-dash for m-dash. (I’m sure you know this.)

I did misspeak – I’m referring to a n-dash then, not a (e)m-dash. In other words, the one in between the longer — and the ‘normal’ hyphen.

[gr]

JoRo, nice diagnosis. Option key not quite released when the space bar gets hit. I am betting a million on it.

[Cassady]

@JoRo

That looks like an en dash and a non-breaking space. Are you perhaps pressing OPT HYPHEN followed by OPT SPACE?

HYPHEN is a hyphen -

UNDERSCORE (above the hyphen on most keyboards, so the shift key is usually needed) is an underscore _

OPT HYPHEN is an en dash –

OPT UNDERSCORE (above the hyphen on most keyboards, so the shift key is usually needed) is an em dash —

OPT SPACE is a non-breaking space

Slàinte mhòr.

You biscuit!!

Did not know about the ‘non-breaking space’ – that’s the culprit right there. Or rather, my sloppy typing is the culprit. I was hitting the spacebar too quickly, in other words, before releasing OPT – hence the n-b-s!

So obvious in hindsight, but couldn’t for the life of me work out what was happening, since it seemed to be happening randomly (which is was, or rather – the pattern was !)

[Cassady]

@gr

JoRo, nice diagnosis. Option key not quite released when the space bar gets hit. I am betting a million on it.

Safe bet that was! 8)

Thanks to you both for putting me out of my misery! Will be needing to sharpen up my typing skills.

[JoRo]

That’s not sloppy typing, that’s lightening-fast fingers.

Glad it worked out for you.

Slàinte mhòr – have a good weekend.

Biscuit (can I change my username?)