Perhaps, in some way, the recent rise of the dash—and this “trend” is just anecdotal observation; I admit I haven’t found a way to crunch the numbers—is a reaction to our attention-deficit-disordered culture, in which we toggle between tabs and ideas and conversations all day. An explanation is not an excuse, though—as Corbett wrote in another sensible harangue against the dash, “Sometimes a procession of such punctuation is a hint that a sentence is overstuffed or needs rethinking.” Why not try for clarity in our writing—if not our lives?
Em dashes—why writers should use them more sparingly. - By Noreen Malone - Slate Magazine
I’ve been a prolific user of the em dash at times but not as much lately.
I very rarely use it when I’m writing on behalf of someone else. I like it more as a reflection of how I think — somewhat stuttering, bouncing around between conditional arguments and clauses — and so the more personal the writing is, the more em dashes you’ll see.
From me it usually means, “I really ought to stop and elaborate this a lot more but this will have to do for now.”
