Let’s go, A-Ron!
Finally—someone with the guts to step up and actually do something. While most of the do-nothing Democrats sit frozen, too scared of the Orange Dictator and his masked goons, Aaron Ford shows up strong. He’s not backing down—and he’s doing Nevada proud.
It’s ironic we’ve spent decades honing our writing skills and using a variety of literary devices, only to have AI come along and make people think our hard-earned and well-placed dashes and hyphens came from AI.
This is like watching some dude on a horse complain about how scary cars are. No one cares that people use AI to improve their writing as long as the content is solid and accurate. Get with the times or go back to your abacus.
Agreed—em dashes used to be a graceful writing tool. Now, they create an assumption that the writing is AI generated. It’s a sad day, especially in legal writing.
Hyphen, em dash or en dash
The en dash has two uses.
It indicates a range of values (1880–1912, pages 330–39, Exhibits A–E). If you open with from, pair it with to instead of an en dash (from 1880 to 1912, not from 1880–1912).
It denotes a connection or contrast between pairs of words (conservative–liberal split, Arizona–Nevada reciprocity, Sarbanes–Oxley Act).
The em dash is used to make a break between parts of a sentence. Use it when a comma is too weak, but a colon, semicolon, or pair of parentheses is too strong. The em dash puts a nice pause in the text—and it is underused in professional writing.
You can use en dashes instead of a pair of commas or parentheses to separate out a discrete thought — like here — or to signal a pause — like so. My impression is that it’s a bit British coded to use en dashes instead of em dashes for this, but I think an en dash with spaces is easier to read and cleaner than a closed em dash, and an em dash with spaces takes up an absurd amount of space, so I use en dashes when I’m allowed to.
Ford, a leader? Nonsense, he’s working only for media attention for his next elected position. I hear the actual working attorneys think the office is a mess.
The weird fetish in the legal community to debate grammatical punctuation is part of what makes the practice of law unbearable. It’s utterly inconsequential and no one cares. 6 veterans US attorneys just resigned in Minnesota so as not to participate in the assault on our democracy, and discussions about em dashes is what Nevada has to offer.
And as for Ford: signing on to a lawsuits is not the same as bringing them. The AG’s office is capable of bringing its own. It just needs to leadership to do so.
The topic is not serious. Formal grammar is intended to aid in clarity of the substance of language. Grammatical rules are not a blunt force instruments meant to wage keyboard war over.
Your livelihood, your practice, and your clients depend on you for writing that is clearly understood. Grammer helps. Typography helps even more to convey thought and argument.
It’s concerning that she has a media case and her first thought is to shut down anything that would show what happens in her courtroom, then she has to be reminded that oh yeah, the first amendment is a thing you should probably consider. Does she just not think through things before she issues court orders?
Guest
Anonymous
January 14, 2026 12:54 pm
I heard Kishner has an opponent. Can anyone confirm?
She has been a disaster in the ADR program not even being able to timely handle her arbitrations. To think she would be able to handle a full judicial docket is frightening.
Glad the NDOC moved quickly to dismiss Warden Portillo. Now if it could just put that same urgency into fixing its ever-worsening problem with inmates dying/killing each other . . .
Let’s go, A-Ron!
Finally—someone with the guts to step up and actually do something. While most of the do-nothing Democrats sit frozen, too scared of the Orange Dictator and his masked goons, Aaron Ford shows up strong. He’s not backing down—and he’s doing Nevada proud.
Real leadership. About time.
I can’t unsee the LLMdash.
You think an LLM knows how to pronounce his name?
It’s ironic we’ve spent decades honing our writing skills and using a variety of literary devices, only to have AI come along and make people think our hard-earned and well-placed dashes and hyphens came from AI.
This is like watching some dude on a horse complain about how scary cars are. No one cares that people use AI to improve their writing as long as the content is solid and accurate. Get with the times or go back to your abacus.
You apparently completely misunderstood the comment
As a former user of em dashes, this has been a very sad development for me personally.
9:52 here. I’m a big fan of em dashes too, and they have their place in writing. But AI overuses them and it just feels off.
The other giveaway is the current AI trend of saying “it’s not X, it’s Y.” Once you start looking for it, it’s everywhere.
Agreed—em dashes used to be a graceful writing tool. Now, they create an assumption that the writing is AI generated. It’s a sad day, especially in legal writing.
I am a perpetual en dash user, so I’m safe for now.
Hyphen, em dash or en dash
The en dash has two uses.
It indicates a range of values (1880–1912, pages 330–39, Exhibits A–E). If you open with from, pair it with to instead of an en dash (from 1880 to 1912, not from 1880–1912).
It denotes a connection or contrast between pairs of words (conservative–liberal split, Arizona–Nevada reciprocity, Sarbanes–Oxley Act).
The em dash is used to make a break between parts of a sentence. Use it when a comma is too weak, but a colon, semicolon, or pair of parentheses is too strong. The em dash puts a nice pause in the text—and it is underused in professional writing.
attrib. Butterick Practical Typography
You can use en dashes instead of a pair of commas or parentheses to separate out a discrete thought — like here — or to signal a pause — like so. My impression is that it’s a bit British coded to use en dashes instead of em dashes for this, but I think an en dash with spaces is easier to read and cleaner than a closed em dash, and an em dash with spaces takes up an absurd amount of space, so I use en dashes when I’m allowed to.
This is 12:08. The blog auto-formatted my en dashes into em dashes, defeating my whole point!
I happen to love a good em dash. And an Oxford comma.
Ford, a leader? Nonsense, he’s working only for media attention for his next elected position. I hear the actual working attorneys think the office is a mess.
Lombardo is talking about dudes in chicks sports while people get shot in the streets and shoved into traffic by a dictator. Get him out.
The weird fetish in the legal community to debate grammatical punctuation is part of what makes the practice of law unbearable. It’s utterly inconsequential and no one cares. 6 veterans US attorneys just resigned in Minnesota so as not to participate in the assault on our democracy, and discussions about em dashes is what Nevada has to offer.
And as for Ford: signing on to a lawsuits is not the same as bringing them. The AG’s office is capable of bringing its own. It just needs to leadership to do so.
Some of us take these things seriously. You’re not one of us. So this convo isn’t for you.
The topic is not serious. Formal grammar is intended to aid in clarity of the substance of language. Grammatical rules are not a blunt force instruments meant to wage keyboard war over.
And some of us find it to be an amusing subtopic in what can often be a field leaden with drudgery.
Your livelihood, your practice, and your clients depend on you for writing that is clearly understood. Grammer helps. Typography helps even more to convey thought and argument.
If my livelihood relied on debating em dashes, I would agree with you. Such as it is, I do very well without the need to debate the use of any dash.
Leave Frasier Crane out of this.
I remember a professor in law school debating whether the period after “id” should be italicized. Think about that for a moment.
it shouldn’t, and you can tell the difference
That “decorum order” article is brutal, the sad thing is that it’s pretty standard operating procedure in that courtroom.
Where is this article?
Yep. It is mostly condemnation from RJ counsel, RJ editor and a reminder of her poor score in Judging the Judges.
Not great timing for Peterson, given the election and having an opponent
It’s concerning that she has a media case and her first thought is to shut down anything that would show what happens in her courtroom, then she has to be reminded that oh yeah, the first amendment is a thing you should probably consider. Does she just not think through things before she issues court orders?
I heard Kishner has an opponent. Can anyone confirm?
Alexandra McLeod has filed which is one of the few candidates that would get me to actually contribute monies to Kishner’s campaign
That bad huh?
Yes that bad…..
Alex is a good person and good attorney. She will easily get my vote over Kishner.
She has been a disaster in the ADR program not even being able to timely handle her arbitrations. To think she would be able to handle a full judicial docket is frightening.
A toad would get my vote over Kishner
Glad the NDOC moved quickly to dismiss Warden Portillo. Now if it could just put that same urgency into fixing its ever-worsening problem with inmates dying/killing each other . . .
NDOC issue is sad. every few weeks a new article of inmate being killed or someone not getting medical treatment.
“not only illegal and unconstitutional but entirely immoral.”
Jackie Chiles