Flowers & pearls: Thought knitting
Sarah Pally, a linguist and partner at the agency Partner & Partner, takes a close look at (advertising) language in her column «Blüten und Perlen.» This time: a pointed look at how the dash suddenly comes under suspicion of being AI-generated—and why this tiny symbol, of all things, caught between stylistic certainty, algorithmic caution, and human expressiveness, has become the drama queen of punctuation.
If you were too lazy to read, you could often tell from the punctuation whether a professional had written a text or not: professionals usually make full use of the possibilities. Of course, there are also purists who (deliberately) don't do this - so of course this test was never completely reliable.
However, anyone who is too lazy to read today and discovers a dash somewhere immediately suspects an AI behind it. For some, it is even a sure sign that «cheating» has taken place. But this test is more than uncertain.
General suspicion
Texts written in a clearly human way suddenly come under general suspicion, the dash becomes a mental trick.
Why is the dash preferred by the AI? Or to put it another way: Why are other punctuation marks still underrepresented despite training by professional texts?
On the one hand, the dash can be used in many different ways. This means that the risk of getting something wrong in terms of content is lower than with other punctuation marks that are very rule-based or require logical relationships. Even with commas, the AI remains conservative because it could also make semantic mistakes there. So when in doubt, it doesn't use one.
Dashes also have a loosening and accessible effect, while other punctuation marks, such as the beloved semicolon, seem rather strange and academic - but AI wants (has to) please or risk as little as possible. Certainty is more important than conciseness.
Divine Drama Queen
The dash test may therefore already work, but not as intended: It is not the presence of dashes that is at best an indication of AI texts, but rather whether and how other punctuation marks are also used - or not. But this requires a closer, more knowledgeable look.
Despite general suspicion, professionals will hopefully continue to use this divine sign. After all, it provides a special added value: being a gap. A line that holds or develops a thought before moving on. What a drama queen! What a wonderful (human) invention! That's why line length is so important. Unfortunately, the character sometimes ends up too short, as a «minus». But it must, MUST!, be half-four in order to unfold its full effect. Even the AI can do that.
Analyzed since 2025 Sarah Pally In her column "Blossoms and Pearls", she uses industry-related terms and comments on them with a personal touch, from a linguistic perspective - as well as with a precise view of developments in the industry. Pally is a partner in the Partner & Partner agency in Winterthur. She has been working in the fields of content marketing, text/concept and storytelling in the communications and marketing sector for 15 years.
