En Dash v.s. Em Dash
In my professional experience, non-editors tend to be confused by the names for the dashes. The en dash (–) and em dash (—) do not sound distinct enough when spoken aloud to be useful labels.
The origin of the terms—En dashes being the length of typeset "N"s and em dashes being the length of typeset "M"s—don't clear things up...
Also, the names and shapes of two different dashes don't have a clear connection to their two different functions.
The primary function of the en dash is to indicate a span.
While the em dash is primarily used for parathetical clauses.
Why is the shorter dash for spans and the longer one for parathetical clauses? Who knows! Figuring it out is not intuitive—you just have to remember.
One solution to this confusingness is to rename the two dashes. The obvious new names are the “short dash” and the “long dash.” These names are sometimes used. Why they aren't always used is beyond me.
An alternate solution is to give them names based on their functions: the “span dash” and the “parathetical dash.” Perhaps there are better options in this category, but I doubt it.
The real solution, however, is to democratize the workplace.
In an ideal socialist society people will still be equally confused between the differences between the dashes, but I will be less alienated from my labour, and therefore won't care as much.
