# Odd feature in columns

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-feature-in-columns/597062>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [September 21, 2011, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-feature-in-columns/597062 "2011-09-21T14:09:26Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-feature-in-columns/597062/1 "2011-09-21T14:09:26Z")

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I’m looking at columns like the classic today about cheek implants

> **[Can I get cheekbone implants?](https://www.straightdope.com/21341776/can-i-get-cheekbone-implants)**

When I see hyphens (or are they dashes?) like in the last paragraph there, they show up with a gray box around them.

What’s up with that?

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**Author:** ![Crazyhorse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crazyhorse/32/31_2.png) [@Crazyhorse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crazyhorse)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 2:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-feature-in-columns/597062/2 "2011-09-21T14:16:08Z")

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> [@Irishman](#):
>
> I’m looking at columns like the classic today about cheek implants  
> [Can I get cheekbone implants? - The Straight Dope](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/601/can-i-get-cheekbone-implants)
> 
> When I see hyphens (or are they dashes?) like in the last paragraph there, they show up with a gray box around them.
> 
> What’s up with that?

I see it too, seems to have something to do with the CSS code. If you view the page source the gray-background hyphens look like this:

\<p class=“answer”\>One word of warning \<span style=“background-color: #dddddd;”\>— \</span\>a full-scale job of cheek rebuilding could cost you five grand.

For some reason instead of just being a hyphen, the hyphens are in a little CSS area defined to have a background color.

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**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\
**Post date:** [September 21, 2011, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/odd-feature-in-columns/597062/3 "2011-09-21T16:20:28Z")

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The columns have been in various different formats over the years as the Straight Dope moved from newspaper column to book to AOL to this website and the subsequent upgrades/redevelopments on this site.

Sometimes trash characters and odd pieces of formatting show up. I usually get them all but I missed that last one, sorry. Fixed now.