The En Dash's Demise?

I’m reading The Subversive Copy Editor by Carol Fisher Saller, the editor in charge of Chicago’s online Q&A. When I came across this (oddly reassuring) proof that even the Chicago goddesses have to go with the flow sometimes, I knew I had to blab it to the world. Be that as it may, what’s this business about whacking the en dash?

The style guidelines in Chicago have accumulated over the years according to their popularity and usefulness in scholarly writing. They change from one edition to the next when they are no longer helpful. In the last edition, we decided to give up on the “9 January 1930” style and write dates the way more Americans do: January 9, 1930. We put the n back in “2nd.” In the edition before that, in a matter where style intrudes upon grammar, we flirted shamelessly with using “their” as a nonsexist pronoun in singular contexts: everyone should hold on to their hats. (We aren’t proud of that little indiscretion. Even then, we relegated it to a footnote in small type.) We constantly argue over whether to kill off the en dash.

Please, God, no! It was bad enough when Ilene Chaiken killed off Dana! Don’t take away my en dash, too!

Comments

[Mighty Red Pen]

I gotta say: when you need an en dash, you REALLY need an en dash. Having said that, it's usually my copy editor that has to point out when we need it.

[Charmaine Cooper Hussain]

I completely agree with you. One of my first blog posts (not that there have been that many) complains about the automatic insertion in Word Press of em dashes when I personally prefer space-en dash-space. What could be Chicago's rationale for this?

[JD (The Engine Room)]

The publications I work for use the space-en dash-space combo. To me, the em dash seems somewhat old fashioned (although I noticed the other day that The Times uses it).

As an aside, I'm not a fan of the "January 9, 1930" dating style because it puts all the numerals together at one end. I much prefer to have them separated by a month - which removes the need for a comma too.

It's probably just what I'm used to, though.