site banner
PaperclipPerfector  1mo ago (text post)   2256 thread views

Friday Fun Thread for May 22, 2026

Be advised: this thread is not for serious in-depth discussion of weighty topics (we have a link for that), this thread is not for anything Culture War related. This thread is for Fun. You got jokes? Share 'em. You got silly questions? Ask 'em.

1
Top Bottom Old Controversial Comments
Jump in the discussion.

No email address required.

Given the relatively high median eloquence of posters on this site, perhaps it's the wrong place to ask but I've been dealing with a rather frustrating issue. I find that my natural writing style (which I've had since I started writing essays in grade school with the usual refinements that come with age) tends to be pretty easily mistaken for LLM-style writing. I don't really know what that says about me as a person. Regardless, I've cut out em-dashes and negative parallelisms despite having used them for years. Anyone else encounter this issue and has it changed your approach to writing at all?

I’ve almost entirely abandoned negative parallelisms, and I’ve become much more judicious in my use of the em-dash. If I’m writing for an audience who knows nothing about me (for example, reference letters, external emails, and job application cover letters), I avoid em-dashes entirely.

Yeah, the em dash has been destroyed. It's infuriating, because there are so many sentences that are punchier with a dash thrown in.

I'm glad in many ways that I finished my bachelor's in a writing-heavy field before the advent of generative AI.

It's infuriating, because there are so many sentences that are punchier with a dash thrown in.

My man, just put in the minus sign :trollface:

For professional or semi-professional writing, that appears sloppy and unprofessional.

For personal writing, it makes no difference. Normies can't tell the difference between ASCII 0x2D (-) and Unicode U+2014 (—). Even when writing dashes with "--", I've been accused of being AI. The assumption among sophisticated audiences is that you AI-generated the text and then edited the characters you used to disguise it. And most people aren't so sophisticated that they're looking at detailed character codes, they see any writing with dash-separated clauses and they presume it's AI.

they see any writing with dash-separated clauses and they presume it's AI.

Good. Maybe we'll finally get rid of that stupid looking em-dash. Let the hate flow through you.

I’ve become much more judicious in my use of the em-dash

The Chad solution to this is to accept that there is only one dash and that it is also hyphen and the minus sign. Aka the ascii character 0x2D.

What is this, the 1970s? Even then, typists knew to use two hyphens for an en-dash and three for an em-dash.

Nah, that's not the Chad solution — the Chad solution is to start overusing the em dash even if you've never used them before and have to ask AI how to find it on your phone keyboard. It doesn't just show that you don't care about being mistaken for an LLM — it shows that you revel in it! And the best part? You're not just using em dashes — you're weaponizing them. And honestly? That's the real Chad move.

Begone, foul beast of Chaos!

This calls for Ordo Malleus. We may need a full exterminatus here.

Thanks, I hate it.

You can pry my minus sign dash from my cold, dead hands.

What is this place?

This website is a place for people who want to move past shady thinking and test their ideas in a court of people who don't all share the same biases. Our goal is to optimize for light, not heat; this is a group effort, and all commentators are asked to do their part.

The weekly Culture War threads host the most controversial topics and are the most visible aspect of The Motte. However, many other topics are appropriate here. We encourage people to post anything related to science, politics, or philosophy; if in doubt, post!

Check out The Vault for an archive of old quality posts. You are encouraged to crosspost these elsewhere.


Why are you called The Motte?

A motte is a stone keep on a raised earthwork common in early medieval fortifications. More pertinently, it's an element in a rhetorical move called a "Motte-and-Bailey", originally identified by philosopher Nicholas Shackel. It describes the tendency in discourse for people to move from a controversial but high value claim to a defensible but less exciting one upon any resistance to the former. He likens this to the medieval fortification, where a desirable land (the bailey) is abandoned when in danger for the more easily defended motte. In Shackel's words, "The Motte represents the defensible but undesired propositions to which one retreats when hard pressed."

On The Motte, always attempt to remain inside your defensible territory, even if you are not being pressed.


New post guidelines

If you're posting something that isn't related to the culture war, we encourage you to post a thread for it. A submission statement is highly appreciated, but isn't necessary for text posts or links to largely-text posts such as blogs or news articles; if we're unsure of the value of your post, we might remove it until you add a submission statement. A submission statement is required for non-text sources (videos, podcasts, images).

Culture war posts go in the culture war thread; all links must either include a submission statement or significant commentary. Bare links without those will be removed.

If in doubt, please post it!


Rules


Recommended Posts And Communities

Recommended Realtime Chats