The middot can look like a “bullet,” but it is not. It can be helpful in marketing when you need to represent an address in a single line and don’t want loads of commas. Here is example:
123 BEECH STREET • ANYWHERE, USA 55555
More on em dashes in usage
I’ve also been shamelessly overusing the em dash (–) these days for both aesthetic and functional reasons. That’s because the em dash can be used to set apart clauses in all kinds of ways1. It doesn’t require a ton of analysis before you can lay one of these into your text – and, it is super helpful when you don’t want a ton of commas laying around.
I personally also like that the em dash is long and elegant in relationship with the letters they abut. And it’s flexibility in proper usage is helpful if you are not a well-trained writer, or want to buck traditions a little and still make sense.
Em dashes are named for their length – that of a the letter “m.” En dashes are the same length as the letter “n.” Neither of these are the same as a hyphen (-). Honestly, I don’t know why you’d use an en dash, but will learn soon enough, I hope. For now, I’m also enjoying making these little purple graphics ‘old school Photoshop’ style.
- I love the Miriam Webster Dictionary Word of the Day. Here is the article on em dashes, en dashes, etc.
BTW. the character names are showing in the Mona Lisa Recut True Type Font, which is free for personal use. ↩︎
