"The Em-Dash Is Eating Semicolons for Breakfast"

In Standpoint magazine, Lionel Shriver laments that the em dash is usurping the semicolon. Does she hate the em dash? Not at all. In fact, she admits to using it "like many of [her] peers, often to excess." But she thinks: 

the abundance of em-dashes scoring - modern - writing - like - Morse - Code should surely be curtailed, if only to relieve the monotony. Since you can bung*  them in any old place, em-dashes are the resort of the lazy.

"Nevertheless," she writes, "can we resurrect the semicolon once in a while? . . . We writers stash few enough nuts and bolts in our toolbox; surely we can't afford to fling such an elegant punctuation mark in the bin."

I too used to think em dashes were the mark of lazy writing -- just as being overdressed for work is often the mark of being behind on your laundry ("It was either my wedding-and-funeral suit or my graduation gown") -- but I've since warmed up to them, partly because I grow slightly more descriptivist with every passing year, and partly because I can't stop using them myself (even in this sentence). Besides, so many people who've done "5 Questions with . . ." have called the em dash their favorite punctuation mark that I refuse to believe it is "the resort of the lazy." (On the other hand, Frank McCourt said, "I don't like dashes. They should be abolished," and he's Frank fucking McCourt. Who's going to argue with him?)

That being said, I've got nothing but love for the semicolon, and I'd hate for it to wind up in the punctuation ICU, where the en dash is already being zapped with a defibrillator. And there is something off about the examples Ms. Shriver provides of em-dash abuse:

"Other, more sane [sic] women would see this as a reason to get lost - I just view it as a challenge" . . . "Browsing for a book is not the same as going into a clothes shop - it is often a highly personal experience."

In these examples, the em dash makes me expect not a new independent clause but . . . well, something else:

Other, saner women would see this as a reason to get lost -- but not Sherri.

Other, saner women would see this as a reason to get lost -- to fake their own death and start a new life in Costa Rica.

So, that's a problem. 

What's more, the em dashes don't specify the relationship between the two independent clauses as well as other punctuation marks would:

Other, saner women would see this as a reason to get lost; I just view it as a challenge. (The semicolon gives you the contrasting power of "but" without the bulk of an unnecessary conjunction. It also lets you know that each half of the sentence carries the same weight.)

Other, saner women would see this as a reason to get lost: I just view it as a challenge. (The colon promises that more is to come, like a successful appetizer, or an exotic dancer who's unbuttoning her blouse.)

Other, saner women would see this as a reason to get lost. I just view it as a challenge. (The period is, like, thud. It's like, peace out, bitches; this sentence is done. Got a problem with that? Didn't think so.) 

Then again, maybe I'd think differently if I tended to connect independent clauses with em dashes. I mean, I use em dashes to set off inessential information all the time, and if somebody told me that was lazy, I'd tell them they needed to get laid.

* To my readers in the UK: Is "bung" as lewd as it sounds, or does it just mean "put"?

The colon can intimate what the em dash cannot.

Comments

[Justin S.]

Someone may have already caught this, but in the footnote you have "Is "bung" as lews as it sounds..."

Shouldn't it be "lewd"?

[Jan]

FYI, Lionel Shriver is a woman.

[Editrix]

@Justin S. and Jan: Yes, and damn, I suck.

I'll make those changes now.

[Ruth]

I wouldn't say that the verb to bung is lewd. It just means to throw.

Lionel Shriver is interviewed at 08:55 on this subject on this link: http://news.bbc.co.uk/today/hi/today/newsid_8030000/8030316.stm (You have to scroll down to 08:55 to find the clip.)

[Ruth]

p.s. you need to change some of the instances of he to she when referring to comments attributed to Lionel Shriver!

[Editrix]

@Ruth: Dammit, I am NEVER going to get this right. Maybe I should take the uber-corporate route and nix pronouns entirely. (Thanks for the heads-up.)

[JD (The Engine Room)]

'Bung' does mean 'throw', but it has a stronger connotation of carelessness or slapdashery (in my opinion).

[Meghan]

Anyone who thinks the em dash is lazy hasn't read Dickens. They work extremely hard for him.

[Kevin Blanks (Kev)]

Bung can be a verb, meaning to throw (often carelessly or casually) as in 'bung it over here'(synonym - 'chuck'); or a verb meaning 'stuff' as in 'bung it in this bag'. It has also come to be used as a noun, as in 'He took a bung for the transfer of (a sporting professional)from one club to another' Here 'bung' means 'an illegal money payment given (or thrown) to someone for his illicit services' - very likely in an unmarked brown envelope.