I think that's false. Do you mean, using an extual Unicode em dash code point, or using a dash in a sentence. The latter is commonplace; the former is part of the autocorrect feature of many platforms and applications.
> the wording is way too elegant compared to an average HN comment
Statistically, it's apparently about average. :)
There was a thread on HN in the last few months. Here's a quick, general guide:
* Hyphens join things into one term: sun-bleached
* EN dashes create a continuous range between things: Reagan was president 1981–1989; Chicago–Boston flight.
* EM dashes create a break between things: What the—?; I was walking — my car was out of gas — when I saw the accident.
Talk about losing jobs: in the past, a document could go from a verbal dictation to a scribe taking notes, to an editor for redactions, to be set in movable type, and printed on a press.
Now it’s up to one person with a computer to do it all, and our scope and definition of literacy has expanded.
Someone writing a manuscript doesn’t have 3 different dashes: they just draw a line, short or long. Typewriters had a hyphen key only.
Maybe we can go back to "two spaces after each period".
Also, throughout history I doubt everyday people thought about using em, en or hyphen. It's a detail known by professionals, like things professional chefs or coders do that amatuers don't.