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> Tom Johnson wrote:
> >
> > OK, I have a question. Does the average person know or care what the
> > difference is between an en dash, an em dash and a hyphen? I used to know
> > more about them than I do now, but I can't say that I'd even notice the
> > difference between an en dash and a hyphen unless they were side by side.
Most people can't tell the difference between a participle and a gerund,
either, but that doesn't mean that a writer shouldn't use them properly.
Seriously, the whole point of typography is that it shouldn't call
attention to itself.
Moreover, just because the average person doesn't notice it doesn't mean
it isn't effective. When I choose a font or add a few points of leading,
I don't expect one person in forty to notice what I've done - and, even
then, the notice may be no more than a vague sense that the resulting
document is easy to read or attractive.
I can live with that far more easily than I can with the feeling that I
haven't taken a little extra effort to be as professional as possible.
--
Bruce Byfield 604.421.7177 bbyfield -at- progeny -dot- com
"Ordinary people...are nothing without the ordinary truth, nothing at
all. They die without it: without innocence or candour. Indeed the very
great majority kill themselves long long before their time. Live as
children; grow pale as adolescents; show a flash of life in love; die in
their twenties and join the poor creatures that creep angry and restless
about the earth."
-Patrick O'Brian, "H.M.S. Surprise"
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