Greetings!
I'm someone who makes searches on Google at any given time, whenever I have even the slightest confusion in my head. I don't let a doubt or a confusing, searchable factor go unresolved without Googling it to clear my doubt or settle my mind.
Source
Upon seeing this prompt, I went to my Chrome browser history to check my last Google search, and I laughed when I saw what it was.
What was it?
Screenshot from browser
It was a dash. Yes, the dash symbol.
I know you're wondering why I would go and search for just a symbol. Let me explain.
The dash symbol is not commonly seen on many phone keyboards. Yes, take a look at your phone's keyboard, and you'll notice that the dash symbol is not there. I realized this while using my previous phone. I remember even posting it on my WhatsApp status, asking my contacts if they had the dash symbol on their keyboards. Most of them responded that they didn’t, and the only person who agreed to having it was someone using an iPhone. So maybe it's just Android phones that don’t have it.
I made that Google search to copy the symbol from there and use it in my typing. What do I mean?
I needed that specific symbol to fully illustrate my expression. No other symbol felt appropriate for what I was writing; it perfectly suited what I wanted to convey.
Now, to clarify: the dash I’m talking about isn’t this one (-) or this one (_). I mean the one that's longer and placed in the center, I mean this one 👉 —
I use it a lot when typing on my computer, so not having it on my phone’s keyboard feels a bit odd.
I know you might suggest that I download an external keyboard app to replace the one on my phone. Yes, I know that’s possible, and it's what most people do in such cases. But for me, I prefer to use my phone mostly with the features it came with. I feel like adding such apps can put a heavy load on the phone. Many external apps come with bugs and cause lag, after all.
So you see, I make use of my Google search even for the smallest things. I don’t struggle to find a solution when it's just a click away.
Source
It's from that search that I learned the symbol is called an "em dash" and that it's not commonly seen on keyboards. Instead, the hyphen is usually used in its place.
Whenever I see an em dash in someone's article, I don't have to think much to figure out that the article was likely typed on a computer and not a phone. That’s my easiest way of knowing whether the person used a computer.
Let’s run a little experiment:
Take a look at your keyboard. Check very well. Do you see the dash symbol?
Yes?
No?
Comment in the comment section.
Thanks for reading.
This is my entry to the digi-prompts
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