[bksvol-discuss] Re: The Em-Dash in print
- From: Grandma Cindy <popularplace@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Thu, 25 Oct 2007 18:25:21 -0700 (PDT)
Hi, Sue.
Reading your note, I realize I did it again. You wrote
em and en in capital letters. Actually, it's the
lower-case em and en that cause the
difference--another instance in which I didn't make
myself clear or made assumptions. If you remember your
lessons, you'll know what I mean. The em dash is the
width of a piece of lower-case em type and the en dash
the equivalent of a lower-case en piece of type. I
cannot see the difference between that and a regular
hyphen, but there might be a minute difference in the
actual type pieces.
Cindy
--- siss52 <siss52@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> Hi Cindy,
>
> That was really interesting! I haven't had sight
> but we were required to
> learn how to write print with a pencil when I was in
> school, so I know what
> you mean about the letters M and N. I can only
> imagine how much time it
> must have taken to set type!
>
> Sue S.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Grandma Cindy" <popularplace@xxxxxxxxx>
> To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Thursday, October 25, 2007 4:39 PM
> Subject: [bksvol-discuss] The Em-Dash in print
>
>
> Sue et all.
>
> Yes, in print the em dash is twice as long as hyphen
> or plain dash. It comes from the days when print was
> physically set by printers, i.e., people, into big
> printers. I don't know if you've ever had sight, so
> I
> don't know if you've ever seen the difference
> between
> the letter em and the letter en--the former has two
> sort of loops or humps and the latter has one.
> That's
> why an en dash is shorter than an em dash.
>
> I once had an opportunity to work with a real
> printer, meaning the machine, and to set type. When
> I
> was in library school there was still on in the
> basement. I set type for my Christmas cards on
> it--great fun but time-consuming.
>
> Anyway, in the olden days--and perhaps those of you
> who had sight at one time have seen pictures of
> old-time printers and their machines--there were
> trays
> of letters and punctuation marks of various fonts.
> The
> typesetter, a person, would select the letters from
> the trays, and an em dash or a hyphen as needed, and
> put them onto a sort of hollow wide horizontal stick
> called a composing stick (I looked that up). I can't
> remember know how that was carried or put onto the
> printing press--maybe the sticks themselves were
> taken
> off the carrying handle and set into the press.
> Then,
> as I recall, once all the type was set into the
> press
> it was inked and paper was put onto rollers and
> rolled
> over the type to create newspapers, etc.
>
> Unfortunately, it was many years ago that I made my
> cards, and the illustrations of Ben Franklin and
> other
> printers in action don't show much action. I've done
> a
> little googling to see if I could get a better
> description but so far haven't been able to and
> don't
> want to spent any more time looking.
>
> Anyway, all that's probably more than any of you
> wanted to know. I probably should have stopped after
> my first sentence in answer to Sue's question. sigh
>
> Cindy
>
> --- siss52 <siss52@xxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> >
> > Hi All,
> >
> > Evan, I am beginning to feel ambivalence about
> this
> > cottin pickin' em-dash
> > as well. For me it doesn't matter. I mean, I am
> a
> > Braille reader and this
> > dash seems to translate into one dash or hyphen on
> > bookshare.org. So I have
> > a question. <big sigh> In print, does the
> em-dash
> > look a lot different
> > from a double dash or two hyphens? On my Braille
> > display when I validate a
> > file in Word, it looks like a capital hyphen. My
> > display is an 8-dot cell,
> > and that is how it looks. So I am wondering how
> it
> > looks in print. Also,
> > what does a Daisy speech file say if someone wants
> > to know?
> >
> > Sorry to bring this up, but it is my concern for
> > students that set me off.
> > <lol> A student should know the difference in the
> > single hyphen that is
> > used for compound words and a dash which, in
> Braille
> > Grade II, is a double
> > hyphen. I usually validate fiction, but still, I
> am
> > concerned.
> >
> > Sue S.
> >
>
>
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