# What does &mdash mean?? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 25, 2003, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mdash-mean/209489 "2003-10-25T14:44:44Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Turbo\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@Turbo\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turbo_Dog)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2003, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mdash-mean/209489/1 "2003-10-25T14:44:44Z")
It started showing up all over the place not too long ago, and I’m too dumb to figure it out. It doesn’t make any sense to me. Is it geekspeak for etc? What? ---
**Author:** ![sailor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a587f6/32.png) [@sailor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sailor)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2003, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mdash-mean/209489/2 "2003-10-25T14:53:47Z")
Seems like the html code for m-dash which a longer dash than your standard - dash. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2003, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mdash-mean/209489/3 "2003-10-25T14:55:06Z")
Are you using Netscape? I usually use Netscape 4.7, and I see it a lot. I don’t see &mdash when I use Explorer. I think “&mdash” is just a dash (-), and that for some reason the browswer doesn’t recognize the character properly. (Could be another symbol, but I’m pretty sure it’s a dash.) FWIW, you can use symbols such as hearts on SDMB, but you need to be using Explorer to see them. (I don’t see them when I use Netscape.) ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2003, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mdash-mean/209489/4 "2003-10-25T14:56:08Z")
Or it’s a longer dash – such as the double-dash I’ve just used – as **sailor** says. ---
**Author:** ![Liberal](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/848f3c/32.png) [@Liberal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Liberal)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2003, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mdash-mean/209489/5 "2003-10-25T14:57:24Z")
— Alt + 0151 ---
**Author:** ![Turbo\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@Turbo\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turbo_Dog)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2003, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mdash-mean/209489/6 "2003-10-25T15:01:33Z")
Usually I use Netscape. I had an initial feeling that it was some type of coding thing, but it seems weird to me that I haven’t seen it until about two months ago. Is it a new code? I never saw it and then suddenly it is showing up all over the place. ---
**Author:** ![Turbo\_Dog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ce73a5/32.png) [@Turbo\_Dog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turbo_Dog)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2003, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mdash-mean/209489/7 "2003-10-25T15:07:34Z")
Also, I see it occasionally in MS Word documents. I think that is what is confusing me. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2003, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mdash-mean/209489/8 "2003-10-25T15:39:18Z")
— I can see the above code correctly, and I’m currently using Opera on Windows ME. My character encoding is US ASCII. And, yes, it is a seperate glyph from the en-dash (-). It has a distinct encoding on the extended character set. It is not in ASCII, really, but US ASCII is apparently an ASCII extension which includes it. ASCII only includes the en-dash. If you do not see an em-dash (what the long dash is called) as the long dash, your browser or your character encoding is inadequate. (If you see it as —, your browser is not parsing the code. If you see a character other than a long dash, your encoding is off.) To type it into your post in a portable way, type —. (To type what I typed above, type —.) ---
**Author:** ![Cleophus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/a88e57/32.png) [@Cleophus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cleophus)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2003, 3:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mdash-mean/209489/9 "2003-10-25T15:45:22Z")
By default, Word converts a “–” to a &mdash. ---
**Author:** ![Redsland](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/9de0a6/32.png) [@Redsland](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Redsland)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2003, 4:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mdash-mean/209489/10 "2003-10-25T16:41:51Z")
If you are asking about the purpose of the em-dash, it is used as a long pause in a sentence, or to set off parenthetical material (e.g., no one believed him–he always lied). Its shorter cousin, the en-dash, is used to separate the two numbers or words that define a range (e.g., 6-9 p.m.). The even shorter hyphen (erroneously seen above) is used to connect multi-word modifiers and the occasional prefix, or to separate a word at the end of a line of type. ---
**Author:** ![VernWinterbottom](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/c67d28/32.png) [@VernWinterbottom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VernWinterbottom)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2003, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mdash-mean/209489/11 "2003-10-25T18:42:37Z")
And if you’re wondering about the origin of the term em-dash and en-dash, it dates to the days when metal type was hand set using individual characters. the capital M, or em, was the widest piece of type. Its printing surface was roughly square. An em-space was a blank piece of type as wide as an em. An em-dash was a dash as wide as an em. An en was half the width of an em. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2003, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mdash-mean/209489/12 "2003-10-25T19:06:44Z")
The reason you’re actually seeing the coding “&mdash” instead of seeing an actual em-dash is because the proper coding should be “&emdash” (note the “e” in there). Since “&mdash” is improper, the browser doesn’t know what it is and so shows the code. It’s kind of like when an HTML page has a closing tag, but the opening tag is missing. You’ll see the \< /b \> displayed on the page. ---
**Author:** ![Mister\_Rik](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mister_rik/32/491_2.png) [@Mister\_Rik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mister_Rik)\ **Post date:** [October 25, 2003, 7:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mdash-mean/209489/13 "2003-10-25T19:08:28Z")
Okay, now I look like an idiot. ---
**Author:** ![11811](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/9d8465/32.png) [@11811](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/11811)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mdash-mean/209489/14 "2003-10-26T01:10:56Z")
The en dash is also used in place of a hyphen when a word requires more than one hyphen. In the phrase “Pro-sports-oriented coverage” the second hyphen would be replaced with an en dash. The idea is that the two portions most commonly joined with a hyphen retain the hyphen, while the least commonly joined portion is attached with an en dash. 11811 ---
**Author:** ![Wikkit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c0e974/32.png) [@Wikkit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wikkit)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 4:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mdash-mean/209489/15 "2003-10-26T04:10:24Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by VernWinterbottom \* > \*\*And if you’re wondering about the origin of the term em-dash and en-dash, it dates to the days when metal type was hand set using individual characters. the capital M, or em, was the widest piece of type. Its printing surface was roughly square. An em-space was a blank piece of type as wide as an em. An em-dash was a dash as wide as an em. An en was half the width of an em. \*\* Which is also why they should be called m-dash and n-dash. em and en is almost as dumb as calling something a wye adapter, when it’s shaped like the letter Y. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 5:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mdash-mean/209489/16 "2003-10-26T05:12:48Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Phase42 \* > Okay, now I look like an idiot. Ha. Just F everybody’s I, here’s [the official list of HTML Character Entity References](http://www.w3.org/TR/html401/sgml/entities.html). “mdash” is 13th from the very end. The old Netscape browsers (before Netscape 6) were made before this list, so I guess they have an excuse for not getting it right. But Netscape 6+ and Internet Explorer 5+ should show them all, for the most part. ---
**Author:** ![typhoon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/ed8c4c/32.png) [@typhoon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typhoon)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 5:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mdash-mean/209489/17 "2003-10-26T05:34:46Z")
Wow, a lot of misinformation here. Here’s an actual, honest-to-god true answer: The reason Mozilla displays &mdash literally is because THERE’S NO SEMI-COLON AT THE END. This means IT’S INVALID CODE. Internet Explorer will render it as the right character anyway, BUT IT’S BEHAVING INCORRECTLY. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 5:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mdash-mean/209489/18 "2003-10-26T05:42:55Z")
Nobody’s talking about Mozilla. The oldfangled Netscape browser that **Johnny L.A.** mentioned is not based on Mozilla like Netscape 6 is. And I don’t think it’s just a coding error. My webpage has em dashes coded correctly, and ISTR that it shows up wrong in Netscape Navigator 4.something in Unix. ---
**Author:** ![Wikkit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c0e974/32.png) [@Wikkit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wikkit)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 6:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mdash-mean/209489/19 "2003-10-26T06:08:26Z")
Arguably, all Netscape is based on Mozilla, since Mozilla was the name of the beast that slayed NCSA Mosaic before Netscape was called Netscape. ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [October 26, 2003, 6:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mdash-mean/209489/20 "2003-10-26T06:19:21Z")
I stand corrected. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-mdash-mean/209489.md?page=2)