Em dashes in Reddit posts and comments, 2016 to 2026

Quarterly counts of long Reddit posts (15,817,377) and long comments (241,541,185) from 100 large English-language subreddits that contain an em dash (U+2014), an en dash (U+2013) or a typed double hyphen, January 2016 to September 2026, plus the number of comments that mention "em dash". Long means at least 200 characters. Includes per-subreddit counts for 2021 and January to September 2026. Source: KissMyPost analysis of public Reddit posts and comments. This dataset accompanies the KissMyPost study The em dash and ChatGPT: what ten years of Reddit posts show. The method, charts and the full write-up are on that page. Files: em-dash-reddit-quarterly-2016-2026.csv: Quarterly counts, 2016 to Q3 2026. 43 quarters. Long posts and long comments with em dash, en dash and double hyphen counts, plus comments that mention "em dash". em-dash-reddit-subreddits-2021-2026.csv: Counts by subreddit, 2021 and 2026. All 100 subreddits in the sample: long posts and long comments, with and without an em dash, for 2021 and January to September 2026. em-dash-reddit-monthly-2016-2026.csv: Monthly counts, January 2016 to September 2026. Long posts and long comments with and without an em dash, plus comments that mention "em dash", by month. October 2025 is flagged as a suspected data issue. em-dash-reddit-top10-by-period.csv: Top 10% comparison by period, 2019 to 2026. Posts with an em dash against the expected top-10% count, for the whole post and for the title, with the number of subreddits above and below 1. Method: Character match for U+2014 and U+2013 in post titles, post bodies and comment bodies of at least 200 characters; removed, deleted and pinned posts excluded. Measured: Share of long posts containing an em dash; Share of long comments containing an em dash; Long posts and comments containing an en dash; Long posts and comments containing a double hyphen; Comments mentioning "em dash". All files contain aggregates only, no individual posts or user names.