Never one to shy away from a bold declaration, Elon Musk has turned his attention from rockets and social media to punctuation. He recently argued that the rules of English should change to include spaces around the em dash—and sparked a firestorm.
Musk's Grammatical Grievance
In
a recent post on his social media platform, X, the tech billionaire waded into the surprisingly contentious world of punctuation. Replying to a post that used em dashes to set off a clause, Musk declared that English rules needed an update. He argued for adding spaces on either side of the em dash (—), claiming that without them, the punctuation mark 'presently too much resemble[s] a hyphenated word, rather than a parenthetical phrase'. He also added that the em dash itself is an 'unpleasantly long a line' and that the shorter en dash (–) is a 'better length'. The comment quickly ignited a debate between writers, editors, and grammar enthusiasts, turning a niche style point into a viral conversation.
A Dash of Confusion
So, what exactly is an em dash? It's the longest of the three horizontal lines we use in writing: the hyphen (-), the en dash (–), and the em dash (—). The name 'em' comes from typography, where it was traditionally the width of a capital letter 'M'. Its main job is to signal a pause or a break in thought, often with more emphasis than a comma or parentheses. You can use it to set off an explanatory phrase—like this one—or to mark an abrupt turn in a sentence. The confusion Musk highlights arises from how it connects to the words around it. Is it a connector that should be flush against the text, or is it a separator that needs breathing room?
The Great Style Guide Divide
As it turns out, Musk isn't inventing a new rule so much as picking a side in a long-standing style war. There are two main camps on this issue, and they are divided by industry tradition. Book publishing and academia, which predominantly follow The Chicago Manual of Style, call for no spaces around an em dash. According to this tradition, the dash should connect directly to the words it separates, creating a tight, uninterrupted line of text—just like this. On the other hand, journalism and many forms of web writing follow the Associated Press (AP) style guide. AP style explicitly requires a space on both sides of the em dash. So, when Musk calls for spaces, he's actually aligning with the style used by most newspapers and online media outlets.
Why Does AP Style Prefer Spaces?
The AP's preference for spaces around the dash is rooted in readability and history. In the narrow columns of a newspaper, a closed up em dash can create visual clutter and might, as Musk noted, be mistaken for a hyphen. Spaces help the dash stand out as a distinct parenthetical break. This style also has roots in the era of teletype machines, which had limitations on what characters could be transmitted, making the space dash space combination a more reliable formatting choice. While technology has long since moved on, the aesthetic has stuck. Many modern publications find that the spaced dash simply looks cleaner and is easier for readers to parse, especially on digital screens. In fact, many university style guides, like the one for the University of Wisconsin, have adopted the spaced em dash, even noting that it is an exception to Chicago style.
So, Who Is Right?
Ultimately, neither Musk nor the no space purists are definitively 'right'. The use of spaces around an em dash is a matter of style, not a grammatical rule set in stone. The 'correct' usage depends entirely on the style guide one is following. The Chicago Manual of Style advocates for a closed up dash to maintain a strong connection within the sentence. AP style mandates spaces for clarity and emphasis. Both are valid within their own contexts. Musk's preference for the shorter en dash is a more personal and aesthetic choice, as the en dash is typically reserved for indicating ranges (e.g., 'pages 147–48') or connecting compound adjectives. His argument shows that even for billionaires, the small details of how we communicate matter—and everyone has an opinion.
